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B
TRAVELS
IN
VARIOUS COUNTRIES
OP
EUROPE ASIA AND AFEICA
BT
E. D. CLARKE LL.D.
PART THE SECOND
GREECE EGYPT ANJ>TH£ HOLY LAND
• *
SECTION THE.SIjCONI*
• U • • **• . * < ft ■ «
FOURTH EDITION
VOLUME THE SIXTH.
LONDON
PRINTED FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES
I* TKB BTRAXD
BY R. WATTS CROWN COURT TEMPLE BAR.
MDCCCXVII.
• » •
• •• •
• • ••
• •
» » • • • w_ * • • •
- « • ■ • • 7^ * •
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
PAST II. SECT. II.
VOLUME THE SIXTH.
REMARKS ON THE LIBRARIES OF GREECE
BY THE REV. 22. WALPOLE.
With an aecemmt of the Catalogue of Books now preserved in the
M OXA8TBBY ef Pathos, at it was copied/or the Marquis or Slioo.
»■#. .-»■• ■ • •
P. 27. ' %m ,
COS TO ?AT#LQ8r:";: :\ ,
Messenger from the VizUr~B(Uani&:fa'^ir&*-Casiot
vessel— Antient custom of singing 'Vespers— Leira and
Lepsia —Arrival at Patmos— Critical situation of a part of
the French army — Monastery of St. John — Library —
Ignorance of the Monks— Manuscripts — Discovery of the
Patmos Plato — Other valuable Works — Manuscript in the
hand-writing of Alexias Comnenas — State of the island —
Antient Medals — Extensive prospect — Holy Grotto — Din-
ner given by the French Officers— Bart helemy— Women of
the island — Bells — Stratagem for obtaining the Greek
Manuscripts— Fruitless attempt to leave the island— View
of Samoa— Icaria — Western port of Patmos — Geological
phamomena — Plants and animals— 'Marble Cippi— Depar-
ture from Patmos — Prognostics oj Greek mariners.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
CHAP. II.
P. 82.
PATMOS TO PAR08.
Gale of wind — Vessel driven to the South of Naxos — Panormo
— Independent Shepherds — Appearance of the island —
Minerals — Naxian Boccaze — Town of Naxos — Manu-
scripts— Inhabitants — Population — Antiquities — Inscrip-
tions— Sculpture — Medals — Gems — Colossal Statue —
Temple of Bacchus — Other Ruins — Smeriglio — Arrival at
Paroa— Par echi a — Castle — Inscriptions — Ship stranded
— Antiparos — Grotto — its possible origin — mode of descent
'—description of the interior —Nature of the Stalactites —
manner of their deposition — Paradoxical Phamomena —
Crystallization of Alabaster — Arragonite — Visit of the
Yreiteh\A7flb<%$S4a\fr^0}wMs^Antient Quarries of Parian
Marble — Marpe88U8— Cawie of the prevalence of Parian
Marble i n Grecian [Sculpture — Marvellous skill of the
Antients 19-wof kitty tlic Quarries — Bas-relief—Explana-
tion of &J&yerij#ffi^Qiigin of the work — Evidence it
affords — Theory of Crystallization.
CHAP. III.
P. 146.
PAROS TO ATHENS.
Voyage to Syros — Affecting Interview — Syra — Plants —
Remains of Antient Customs— Gems and Medals — State
of the Island — Voyage to Gyarus — Hydriots— Wretched
condition of Jura — Voyage to Zia — Cartheea — Ravages,
committed by the Russians — Ruins of Ioulis — Medals —
Hospitality of the Modern Greeks — Antient Dances —
GENERAL STATEMENT OP CONTENTS.
Produce ofZi& — Minerals — The Author sails for Athens —
View near the mouth of the Sinus Saronicus — Sunium —
Temple o/'Minerva Sunias — Anecdote of a Naval Officer —
Patrocleia— Other Islands in the Saronic Gu/pA— Calaurea
— Albanians — Elimbd^~First Sight of Athens — Zoster
Promontory— Doubtful Story o/Minerva's Statue— Arri-
val at the Pireeens — Approach to Athens.
CHAP. IV.
P. 196.
ATHENS.
Origin of the fabulous Contest between Neptnne and Minerva
— Antient Sepulchral Monument — Excavationsat Athens —
View of the Cecropian Citadel — Funereal Aspect of the City
— Objects in the perspective State of the Antiquities —
Interesting Relic — Remarks upon entering Athens — Guil-
letiere— Ascent of the Acropolis — Relic o/Phidian Sculpture
— Adytum of Pan— 'hpa of the Greeks— Portable Shrines
— Statue of Pan — Celebrated Artist — Spoliation of the
Temples — Comparison between the Grecian and Roman
Buildings — Athenian, Posidonian, and iEginetan Architec-
ture— Cause of the Injury sustained in the Sculpture of the
Parthenon — Splendid Representation of the Panathensea —
Description of the Work — The Cothurnus, and Petasus or
Pileus — Practice of gilding and painting Sta tues — Marbles
used in the Acropolis — Singular Construction of the Erec-
theum — Of the Prytaneum — Temples of Pandrosus and
Minerva PoKna—OftJie Olive, and Well— Propylsea- Walls
of the Acropolis —Odeum of Regilla — General Description
of the Theatres of Greece - Areopagus— Temple of 'Theseus.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
CHAP. V.
P. 207.
ATHENS.
Temple of the Winds— Unknown Structure of the Corinthian
Order — The Bazaar — Population and Trade of Athens—
State of the Arts - Manufacture of Pictures — Monochromatic
Painting of the Antients — Terra-Cottas — Origin of Painting
and Pottery among the Greeks — Medals and Gems —
Explanation of the Amphora, as a symbol upon Athenian
Coins — Ptolemseum — A ntient Marbles— Thes6um — Grave
o/Tweddell — Description of the Temple — AreopaguB —
Piraean Gate — Pnyx — Monument on the Museum — Antient
Walls — Theatre and Cave of Bacchus — Monument of
Thrasyllus — Choragic Pillars — Remarkable Inscription —
Origin of the Crypt — Ice Plant in its native state — Arch of
Hadrian — its origin — when erected — Temple of Jupiter
Olympius — Discordant accounts of this building — reasons
for the name assigned to it — IHbsus — -Town/am Callirhoe —
False notions entertained of the river — Stadium Panathe-
naicum — Sepulchre of Herodes — Hadrian's Reservoir —
Mount Anchesmus — View from the summit.
CHAP. VI.
P. 836.
ATHENS.
Excavations — Great Antiquity of tfte Athenian Wells— Curious
Inscription upon a Terra- cot ta Lamp—Excursion to Hy-
mettus— Temple of Diana— Monastery — Visit to the sum-
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
mit of the Mountain— Plants — Panoramic Survey of the
Country— Return to Athens— Singular Adventure that
befel the Author— Description of the Ceremonies of the
Bath, as practised by the Turkish and Grecian Women-
Further Observations in the Acropolis — Inscriptions —
Specimen of Cadmasan Characters— Additional Remarks
upon thePuihenon—Efect of Sun-set behind the Mountains
of Peloponnesus.
CHAP. VII.
P. 374.
PELOPONNESUS.
Departure from Athens for the Peloponnesus — Extraordinary
talents o/TzCahnuck Artist — Further account of the Pirseeus
— the " Long Walls" — Tomb of Themistocles— its situation
— remains of this monument — Objects visible in passing the
Gulph — J£gina — Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius— Anti-
quities near to the port — Anchestri Isle — Ignorance of the
i>t/o*-rEpi&da — Greek Medals— AibutxiB Andrachne— Ap-
pearance of the Country — Ligurib — Description of a Conak ,
or Inn— Coroni — Cathedra of a Greek Theatre — Hieron
— Mountains — Temple of jSSsculapius — Stadium — Archi-
tectural Terra-cottas — Temple of the Corypheean Diana—
Temple o/ Apollo — Circular edifice — Theatre o/* Polycletus
— Epidaurian serpent — Aspect of the Coilon — Perfect state
of the structure — Dimensions and detailsof the parts — Jour-
ney to Nauplia— Lessa —Dorian and Egyptian antiquities —
Arachnaeus Mons — Cyclopea — Nauplia — House of the
Consul* •Turkish Gazette — Public rejoicings— AthleUe —
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
Pyrrhica— Papulation —Air — Commerce — Gipsies — Cha-
racteristic features of Grecian Cities — Tiryns — Celtic and
Phoenician Architecture — Origin of the Cyclopean style —
History ofTiryxiB — character of its Inhabitants.
CHAP. VIII.
P. 447.
PELOPONNESUS.
Further inquiry into the Originof Tiryns— Road to Argos —
River Inachus — Plants and Minerals — Argos— Terra-cot ta
Vases— -Ignorance of their sepulchral use — Hecate* 8 Supper
— Lectisternium — Probable cause of depositing Earthen
Vessels in Sepulchres — Origin of the Custom — Population of
Argos — Antiquities — Theatre— Hieron of Venus — Diras—
Cyclopes — Alcyonian Lake —Oracular Shrine — Other re-
mains of the city — Character of the antient Argives — View
of the Argive Plain — Fabulous Contest between Neptune
and Juno— Hieroa of Ceres Mysias — Antiquity^ of fictile
materials in building — Mycenae — State of the Ruins —
Extraordinary Sepulchre — not the Treasury of Atreus —
Heroum of Perseus — Sophocles — internal evidence of his
having visited the spot— of the A£/xa and HpoicvXaia — Tomb
of Agamemnon — Interior of the Tumulus — Enormous lintel
— Use of the triangular cavity above the entrance— Inner
chamber— Leonine Gate — Dimensions and description of
the Propylaea — Mythological Symbols — Consecrated Gates
— Of the Pylagorae — ^Egyptian characteristics— Worship
of the Sun — Walls of Mycenae.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
CHAR IX.
P. 510.
PELOPONNESU8.
Journey to Nemea — Defile of Tretus— Cave of the Nemesean
Lion — Fountain of Archemorus— Temple of the Nemeeean
Jupiter — Albanians — Monument of Lycurgus — Nemeeean
River — Apesas — Sicyonian Plain — Sicyon — Theatre—
Prospect from the Coilon — Stadium — Temple of Bacchus—
Other Antiquities — Medals — Paved Way — Fertility of the
Land — Corinth — Fountain of the Nymph Pirene— Sisy-
pheum — Temple of Octavia — Visit to the Governor —
Odeum — Climate of Corinth.
CHAP. X.
P. 660.
PELOPONNESUS AND ATTICA.
Visit to the Isthmus — Remains of the Antient Vallum— Canal
o/*Nero— Lechseum — Cinerary receptacles in the rochs —
Remarkable Tumulus — Acrocorinthus — Ascent to the
Citadel — Hiera— Prospect from the Summit — Hexamillia —
Discovery of the Town of Isthmus — Port Schoenus — Tern-
pie o/'Neptune — Theatre — Stadium — Sepulchre o/Talaemon
— Trees from which Victors in the Isthmia were crowned
— Extraordinary Mart for Grecian Medals — Dress of the
Levant Consuls— Pandaan Horn — Cenchreae— Bath of
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
Helen — Convangee — Cromyon — Manners of the Peasant*
— Scironian Defile— Boundary between Peloponnesus and
Hellas— KAKH 2KAAA— Entrance of Hellas— Causes of
the celebrity of Megara — The modern town — Inscriptions
— Journey to Eleusis — Kerata — Eleusinian Plain — Acro-
polis of Eleusis— Marble Torso— The Flowery Well —
Aqueduct —Temple of Ceres — Statue of the Goddess — Su-
perstition of the Inhabitants —Inscription —Sudden de-
parture for Athens — Via Sacra — Fast extent of Antient
Thrace — The Rh&ti — Eleusinian Cephissus — Salt Lake—
Defile of Daphne — The Rock called Poecile — Temple of
Venus — Monastery of Daphne — Hieron of Apollo— View
of Athens at sunset — Athenian Cephissus — Site of the
Academy — Arrival at Athens — Negotiation with the Wai-
wode — Return to Eleusis — Method devised for removing
the Statue of Ceres — Difficulties encountered— Success of
the undertaking — Further account of Eleusis — Long
Walls— Of the Eharian and Thriasian Plains — Temples of
Triptolemus, o/* Neptune, and of Diana Propylaea — Temple
of 'Ceres — Port of Eleusis —Antient Theatre — Acropolis —
Return to Athens.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF CONTENTS.
Appendix, No. I.
P. 631.
Temperature of the Atmosphere, according to Diurnal Ob'
serration made during the Journey ; with a corresponding
Statement of the Temperature in England during the same
period.
No. II.
P. 637. -
Names of Places visited in the Author** Route.
LIST
OF
EMBELLISHMENTS AND VIGNETTES
IN VOLUME THE SIXTH.
TBI TIOMITTES ABE ENO BATED ON WOOD, BT BEANS TON.
CHAP. I.
Pafe
Map of Patmos ; altered from Tournefart .... 27
CHAP. II.
Map of Parot, Antiparos, &c. from the Voyage Pitto-
resque de la-Ghrlce 27
CHAP. III.
The First Sight of Athens, seven leagues distant, as pre-
sented to persons sailing from Sunium to the Piraeus ;
sketched by the Author 146
CHAP. IV.
Plan of Athens, from a Drawing by W. Wilhins, jun.
Esq , . 196
CHAP. V.
Charon with Mercury, conducting a Female Soul to the
Shades ; designed from an antient Scarabesan Intaglio
by Angelica Clarke 267
CHAP. VI.
View from the Parthenon at Sunset ; from a Drawing
made by the Author 336
Headlands viewed from the Summit of Hymettus, bearing
South and by West ; after the Author's Outline done
upon the spot 354
,- EMBELLISHMENTS AND VIGNETTES.
CHAP, VII.
Pace
Rained Stractare now occupying the Site of the Temple
of Apollo, upon Mount Cynortium, in the Hieron of
^Esculapius, in Epidauria ; from a Drawing made
by the Anthor on the spot 374
CHAP. VIII.
Propybea of Mycence ; from a Drawing by Sir William
Oell 447
Terra-Cotta Vessels found in the Sepulchre of Pelopon-
nesus; designed from the Originals by Angelica
Clarke ; etched by Elizabeth Byrne . to face p. 458
CHAP. X,
Map of the Isthmus of Corinth : shewing the Site of the
Isthmian Solemnities, the Ancient Vallum, the Canal
of Nero, &c. ; from an original Survey made by the
Author • 560
REMARKS
ON
THE LIBRARIES OF GREECE,
BY
THE REV. R. WALPOLB, M.A.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE
CATALOGUE OF BOOKS NOW PRESERVED IN THE
MONASTERY OF PATMOS ;
AS IT WAS COPIED FOR THB MARQUIS OF 8LIOO
These Remark* of Mr. Walpolb being too long to be inserted in the
Note*, among the Extracts from his MS. Journal, the Author has
prefixed them as an appropriate Introduction to this Volume.
m+>+*0^+*>*^im
The names of Nicholas the Fifth, of Francis the
First, of some of the Medici family, of Bessarion,
Busbech1, and Peiresc, are held in just esti-
mation by the lovers of ancient literature. By
their means the Libraries of Europe have
been furnished with great numbers of valuable
Manuscripts, collected with cost and labour, in
different parts of the Levant. The first of these
persons laid the foundation of the Vatican
Library, and supplied it with many Manu-
scripts from Greece. From the same country,
Francis the First, at the exhortation of Budceus,
(1) In this manner he writes his own name, always. Lamb. 1. i. 99.
* 1. xi. addit. p. 1007.
VOL. VI. B
ON THE LIBRARIES OF GREECE.
procured many also : particularly from Mount
Athos. The exertions of the Medicean family
are familiar to every one. Beesarion, who died
in 1483, had made a collection of Manuscripts
at the expense of 30,000 crowns ; and his own
account of his exertions in the cause of Greek
letters is worthy of notice1. The Manuscripts
purchased by Bus beck, during his embassy, are
known to every scholar, from the account given
of them by Lambecius. Many also were obtained
in the East by those whom Peiresc* had sent out ;
they visited Cyprus, Egypt, and Constantinople ;
and in the first of these places, portions of Poly-
bius and Nicolaus Damasceiius were found3.
(1) Cffitet hm, non 'tarn magnum uumerum librorum quam opti-
mos et excellentes, deque singulis solummod6 unum exemplum studui
colligere, unde erenit, ut fere omnia volumins qme in roinis universe
Grttciffi remanserant Integra, et que rlx alibi reperiuntur, congeeae-
rim." Cam Op. Sub. Cent. 3.
(2) Io 1631. See his Life by Gassendi.
(3) At many Manuscripts bad been collected, at vast expense, in
Greece, for the Library at Bud a (destroyed by tbe Turks in 1256) we
ougbt not to omit mentioning it. Alexander Brasticanus had seen in
it the whole of Hyperidet with Scholia, the Works of many of the
Greek Fathers, and of the Classical Writers. Prom this Library
Issued parts of Polybiu* and Diodorus Siculus. A Manuscript of
Heliodorut, from which was taken the first edition of the jEth topics,
was found by a soldier, and brought to Vincentius Obsopmu* .- it be-
longed to this Library. Neander thus speaks of the collection : " Ex
media Grsecia intestiniandis sumptibus emerat Matthias Corvinus
rex." Eput.p. 10.
ON THE LIBRARIES OF GREECE.
There is no doubt that Constantinople and
At has have contributed the greatest number of
the Manuscripts we possess in different parts
of Europe. There were monasteries full of
learned men at Byzantium, to a late period ; arid
every monastery had its library. The Turks,
on their conquest, did not occasion that indis-
criminate destruction which idle declamation
had sometimes imputed to them. Mahomet the
Second secured the Library of the Greek Em-
perors, which was preserved by his successors,
until it was destroyed by Amurat IV,4 At JBy-
zantium, Constantine Lascaris transcribed many
of those works which were afterwards placed
in the Madrid Library. In this city were
procured those Manuscripts which were left to
the Escurial Library by Hurt ado de Mendoza ;
and which had been presented to him by
Soliman the Second. Possevin has given partial
Catalogues of some of the Libraries at Constan-
tinople ; and a traveller in 1597 mentions a valu-
able collection which he had seen in that citv5.
With respect to Athos, we find that two hun-
dred Manuscripts are deposited in one library
(4) Ilirt. de l'Acad. IV. Jortin's E. II. vol. V.
(6) G. Dtnua. It. Const. 71.
b2
ON THE LIBRARIES OF GREECE.
alone1, brought from the monasteries on the
mountain ; and a great part of those at Moscow*
had been collected by the Monk Arsenius in
Athos, at the suggestion of the Patriarch Nicon.
We must add Thessaly, Chios, Corfu, Crete,
Cyprus, Chalce, (the island in the Propontis),
Rhodes, and Epidauria, as places which have
supplied some Manuscripts8. We should have
had much valuable intelligence concerning the
libraries in the monasteries of Thessaly, if the
life of Professor Biornstahl had been prolonged.
He had visited all of them ; and had resided
many days at Triecala, for the express purpose
of copying a Greek Manuscript belonging to a
monastery. Biornstahl was attacked by a fever
at the foot of Mount Olympus : here he was
obliged to continue ten days, without medical
assistance ; and was then taken to Salonica,
where he died, in July 1779.4
(1) Prof, to the Catalogue of the Coislin. Library.
(2) In the Library of the Holy Synod.
(3) See the following references: Diar Ital. of Montfaucon; Fabric.
Bib. Gr. 7. 241; Fabrotu* Not. Basilicorum ; Bib. Coislin. p. 178;
Crusii Turco-QriBe. p. 498.
(4) From a Writer of the date 1557, we have an important notice
respecting a Library on Mount Olympus: "Dicitur adhue hodie in
Olympo \ Monte AJonasterium reliquum ease thesauro optimoram
librorum dives ac celebre." Orat. de Stud. Vet. Phil, inter Melanc.
DeClam.
ON THE LIBRARIES OP GREECE.
Notwithstanding our acquisitions are already
great, we should not intermit our researches
in the Levant. Many Manuscripts may be
saved by them from destruction. " I myself,"
says Dr. Covell, " have seen vast heaps of Ma-
nuscripts (for I never found them on shelves, or
in good order) of the Fathers and other learned
authors, in the monasteries at Mount Athos, and
elsewhere, all covered over with dust and dirt,
and many of them rotted and spoiled5." An
inquiry should be made into the truth of what
was stated to Hemsterhusius by some Greek?,
"that part of the Comedies of Menander was
still in existence." Application might be made
to the Greek Nobles of the Phanar, many of
whom are versed in Antient Greek, and who are
probably the possessors of some valuable Manu-
scripts. Parts of the First Book of the Demon-
stratio Evangelica of Eusebius were printed by
Fabricius* from a Manuscript belonging to Prince
Mavrocordato ; and a copy of the Greek Orators,
now in England, was the property of a Greek
Noble.
(5) VUlouom'i account of the destruction of Manuscript* at Vat mot
may be consulted. Proleg. to Homer.
(<i) JuL Pollux, p. 1272, Note.
(7) Delectus Argumeotorum.
8 ON. THE LIBRARIES OP GREECE.
any of those subjects which would lead us to a
.knowledge of their respective dates.
There is one Manuscript mentioned in it,
concerning which it is not impossible to feel
more than common curiosity : it i? one of Dio-
dorus Siculus. By an accurate inspection of
".'? kr we should learn, whether the hopes, which
. -tiave been more-thtftr'ouoe entertained of the
• existence of the lost' books of* that historian.
• ••T**4rtr in this instance also to; be disappointed1.
. H.' Stephanies had heard* that the" forty books of
Diodorus were in Sicily. This report arose, pijv? .
bably, from Constantine Lascaris having said in
Sicily, that he had seen all these books in the
Imperial Library at Constantinople. Lascaris
•fled frpmthis city, at the .<&ptqr£ qf . ^ by the
Turks. In the turbulence and confusion of that
period, the entire copy to which he * referred
• * -might baveibden lost, " DeUm* ttKhrort&fem,"
.. , * j •Says Smligphtf quanta # jaetfura h reton® Tacta
'. -#. et amigstome libqprum, IlKys-.-.Bibliothecae, prse-
oertiin quinque iUorunr 'qui -seqjuebantur post
-t.
quintum*." ; £<. . -..
»>^ c^X
\\) Photim, in tlie ninth century, perused entire Diodorus Sigtlus.
(2) In Euteb. Qhr/to. cid.idcccclxvh. * •
• f • *Z ••
( 9 )
CATALOGUE OF BOOKS'
IN
THE PATMOS LIBRARY.
A.
Aristophanes. Three copies.
Ammonius4. Two copies.
Aristotle. Various copies.
Apollonius Rhodius.
Exposition of John Zonaras* on the Kavovts ava-
arao-ifjioi of John of Damascus.
A nastasius of Sinai : his Questions & Answers6. MS*
*Aayia dafidTcov, with an Exposition (perhaps by
M. PselluB.) See Lamb. Kb. iii. p. 77.
Arrian.
Anthology of Epigrams.
*A\e£av8pov rov i£ airopprjTWV ypafiftarifcrj.
'Apxrjf kcu curias 7repl t&v Svo e/tAcA^crtW 1 i.e.
of the Greek and Roman Church.
(3) It has not been thought necessary to copy the title of every one
of the printed books mentioned in the Catalogue : the names of all the
Manuscript* are faithfully transcribed.
(4) Ammonius, son of Hermias, master of John Philoponut.
(5) Flourished about 1190. See AUatius de Librit Bccles. Qretco-
Paris. 1646.
(6) Died 699. See Lamb. Comm. L r. p. 92.
10 CATALOGUB OF BOOKS
' jEsop.
'AvOoXoyta Xefje&p 8ta<f)6pa)v. One volume.
Lilian.
Panoplia'DogmaticaofEuthymiusZigabenus.MS.
A7r0OT0XcK0l KOU OVVoSlKol KOLVOVtS.
Athanasius.
Athenaeus, Deipnosoph.
*AXe£dv8pov 'Ioi/daiTca.
'AfiaXdcla? /cepay.
Appian.
'Afi<j)i\oxloiPj MedoSiovy kcu *Av8p*ov KprJTfis,
olt evpiaicofuva.
'AvTODVlOV ^aT7](f>6pOV ypafJLflOLTlKT/.
* Api0fl7)TllcfjS OVVOTTTIKTI €pfJL7]V€ld M7raXai>OV
(Balanus).
A\€J-dv8pov. 9
AvOos xapiT(Dv4.
'AaQdXrj? oSrjyia ttjs Kara X/)t0TOi> -qOiKrjS {fi>ij$
* AkoXovOIo.6 tt}? ayuxs Altar epiirqs.
0) See, for an account of this work, Lmnbeciut, 1. iii. p. 108.
(2) Lamb. 1. v. p. 230.
(8) Amphilockius, bishop of Iconium, died 393. Andrtw, anh bishop
«f Crete, died 720.
(4) See Crtiriia, Turco-Grec. 222. and Du Cange, A pp. ad Gloss. Gr.
in v. rptAog.
(6)** Praeet et official' AtJtarcp4»*if (Catherine) ; sometimes aspi-
rated ; at other times with a letus, as in Du Cange, i. 1 140 ; who also
gives Hctcaiherina, in Index Auct.
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY. ll
iEschines.
Afiufjuov irepi.
'Aer/ou8 larpiKov.
* ASap. ZoipviKaftlov.
*A8o\€o\ia <f>iXo0€O9.
'AXeijavSpeia? Trepiypatyrj.
*Avao-K€vr) rrJ9 tov TZoprepov filfiXov. (Refuta-
tion of a Work of Voltaire.)
'Ap/iovia tepoy pawner).
8.
Basil. Copies of different parts of his Works.
Jir)(T(Tapic0vo9 ypafifJuiTiKT).
The Logic of Blemmides7. MS.
BoAcra/iWj'Off8 c^yiycriy tg>v 'upcov Kavovtov. MS.
Lexicon of Phavorinus.
Lives of Saints. •
A book call ed the Pastoral Flute, av\o$ 7roifi€vuc6s.
Hi&Xlov Kakovpevov Qrjtcapa?.
A small MS. of Prayers.
BAa^o?.
BovXyaplas9 aitama.
(6) Born nt Amida ( Diarbekr ) ; and wrote between the yean 640
anil 550. Fab. ix. 230.
(7) BUmmides lived in the middle of the thirteenth century. His
logic vat published in 1006, by Wegelin.
(8) Theodore Balsamon, of the twelfth century. Cave. Hit*. Lit. 500.
(9) Of Theophylact. " Achridis In Bulgaria archiepiscopus 1070
elarns ; qoem inde Bulgariwn Tocant." Fab. B. O. vil. 580.
12 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS
r.
Gregory of Nazianzus. Various copies.
Holy Scripture.
Tepaaipov fiXaxpv els ra ptrecopoXoyLKoL MS.
Galen.
Gregory of Nyssa.
Tafipi^X1 (f>iXaS€\(f>ia9 irepl (r\iarpua.TLK&v. MS.
Tprjyopiov 9Ko/>€<ri'ot/ Kara Aarlucov. MS.
Treatises of Gerasimus.
Harmony of Scripture.
TopSioVy on 6 Hawa?* kou 6 Mcoap,€0 eio\v 6
* &vriyjHOTos. MS.
Grammar of Gaza4.
A.
Demosthenes.
Dio, and Herodian.
Psalms of David.
Ai8a<TKaXlaf 8ca(f)6pcoy ety ra Kara Kvpiatcqv.
Diogenes Laertius.
Aiapjavri} pvcrlov. (sic.)
(1) Gabriel Severus, metropolitan of Philadelphia; " a bare-faced
Metousiast." Covell. Rise of Transubstantiation.
(9) Coresius, a friend •( Goar. Euchol. 678.
(3) "That the Pope and Mahomet are the Antichrist." Uaxac,
" the Pope ;" *a*ac9 " a priest."
(4) On which Erasmus read Lectures at Cambridge.
(5) Instructions respecting the Lord's Day.
IN THE PATHOS LIBRARY. 13
Dositheus.
Dionysius the Areopagite. MS.
Aiaraycu ya/wv ^afiovrjX iraTpidp\ov.
AiTjyTjcri? ftepucrj rijf irdkaias ioTOpubv (sic,), koll
irporacLs <f>i\o<r6<f)ov inrep (perhaps ire pi)
TOV 0€O/JLO)(OV 'HpCoSoV. MS.
Old and New Testament.
AoyfuiTiKov 'laHivvovBeKKOvK&voTavTivoTroXcwf.
The Grammar of Daniel.
E.
Gospels.
Eustathius.
Epiphanios.
Epictetus.
Euclid. „
Etymologicon.
Eusebius.
Encyclopaedia. Four volumes.
Selections from different Fathers.
Euchologium.
'TZijo/JLoXoyrp-aptov . MS.
Tract on Baptism.
TerpcuevayytXtov .
(6) Vteeus, or Btceus, patriarch of Ccmtantinople.
(7) A Form of ConJewion, and Direction to Penitent*. CoveU, S0O.
(8) See Dm Cmm§t in ▼. *{>ajji\*or.
]4 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS
Exposition of the Apocalypse.
'Eo/DroAoy/a.
Euripides.
'JbirUrKtyfytf 7rpcvfiaTiKOv wpof aaQevi}. Visit of
a Confessor to a sick person*
Zonaras.
Hesiod.
Herod i an.
Herodotus.
Z.
H.
e
Themistius1, wept (frvaucrjf.
Theodoret.
Tbeophrastus.
Theocritus.
Theodorus Ptochoprodromus*.
Theodorus's (abbot of Studium8) Catechetical
Discourses.
Theophylact.
(1) Bora in 317, in Paphlagonia.
(2) Perhaps one of the Poems of this Writer (see Vill. A nee. Gr. ii.
243), or his Exposition of sacred Hymns. See Lamb. 1. t. p. 277. He
lired in the beginning of the twelfth century.
(3) A monastery at Constantinople. Theodore was born in 769. " 11
passe pour an des grands Saints de ce si£cle-la parmi Messieurs les 'Ima-
ginairet; qall me soit permis de me servir de ce terme, mille fois plus dome
quo celui d'lconolatret." Bayle Rep* de» Let tret, Mars 1086.
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY.
15
Qtarpov ttoXltlkov.
Theotoki.
Thomas Magister.
I.
John Chry sos torn.
Isidore's4 y,of Dalmatia) Letters.
I socrates.
John of Damascus5.
Justin (iaTopiKOi/).
John Philoponus, wept Koarpxynrouas*
The same, eh ra 'AvaAvrucd.
Justin Martyr.
Justinian, Kavove? t&v ayuov AitootqXsov.
John Stobaeus.
Julius Pollux.
Other Treatises of John Philoponus.
Isaac7, bishop of Nineveh ; ra tvpeOtvra ajcnayriKa*
Josephus.
'lo-fiayX* tcard. MS. "Against Mahomedanism."
(4) u One of the most valuable men of the fifth century." Jortin,
B.H.11.U3.
(5) Died 760. The last of the Greek Fathers.
(6) 8ee the remark of Lambechu on the title of this work, lib. i. p. 199.
The Alexandrine Grammarian flourished in the early part of the seventh
century after ChrUt. VotsUu gives a different date : De PhUotopk. She.
e. 17. The name of John Philoponus was afterwards assumed by Le CUrc.
(7) Lived in the sixth century.
(8) Cantaautmus wrote, in I860, a work on this subject.
16 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS
John of Damascus.
'lcodwov1 axoXcurriKOU rjyov^ievov *2iva opovs.
Hippocrates. Aphorisms.
K.
KopvSaXeco? irepi ^vyr)9-
The Logic of the same*
Cyril.
Coresius*.
KaTOKov{jjvov airoXoyia Kara Acltiixov.
Callimachus.
KAeofjLrjSovs kvkXlkt) Oecopia.
KvpicucoSpofjuov*.
Ka\Acypa(f)La.
Clemens Alexandrinus.
A.
Liturgies.
Lucian.
Lexica.
Treatises against the Roman Church.
M.
Macarius. Homilies.
■ ■ti t- K-rmu ^ ' ri ^if ^t^m— — ^M^^^^n \\m ~i m-mi imt 1 fc — i ■
(1) John Cttmacus, called Scholastics. This to probably bis Life,
written by Daniel, monk of Raith.
(3) A Ctmstantinopolitan divine ; and friend of Goar. Buck. 678.
(3) See Du Camge, Gloss. Grwc. p. 771. 1.
IK THE PATMOS LIBRARY. 17
Michael Psellus4 ei? ra (jberatfrwriKa. MS.
Macarius. Various treatises.
Meletias on the power of the Pope.
Mc'Ai; Troirjrpubv kvvia.
Melissa*.
Mtrecp/KW irepi eyxcipi&iov.
fAayacar/ rod rjXuxfiov kyK&ymov 6*? 'AAelpurdpov
^ifaXBurn). Encomium on Prince Ypsilante.
Maximus Planudes.
Matthew Blastares6.
Meletius. Geography.
N.
Nectarius7.
Nicephorus Gregoras.
NofUKOv fiacriXucov. MS.
NofiOKovoves*.
o.
(Ecumenius.
Olympiodorus eh ra fxereaypa rov 'A/mototc'Aow.
'OfirjpoKevrpa kou KtvTp5>vz$.
(4) Of the eleventh century.
(5) Antonua Melissa, Ured about 760. Fab. Bib. Qrmc. iz. 744.
" a ttodio eoUigeodi MiXuwa, sire Apis, dictas est."
(6) Of the fourteenth century.
(7) Patria Cretensis, defunctus anno 1005. Fab. iz. 310.
(8) X4nn6.LTLp.51.
(9) Homerid centones.
VOL. VI. C
18 CATALOGUE OF BOOKS
n.
Acts of Synods.
Plutarch.
Pausanias.
Pindar.
U6\€fW9 irVtVpUOLTlKOS.
Polyaenus.
TJonjTcoi' tS>v 7ra\ouordr(ov yecopyuta, fiovKoXitca,
KCU yVCDfJUKGL.
UareptKov. MS.
Ucrpa aicavSaXov.
'PrjTOpucr) 2koi/0ou.
'PaiTioytoS <rTTj\iT€V(ri9.
'PcoAtVou rofioi — 1 5.
2.
Catenae Patrum on the Psalms and Matthew.
Sophocles.
Suidas.
*2vfi€(6v QeaaoLkovucris.
Simplicius.
*2vvo8iko9 vo/to?.
j£r)/ieu»o'€i9 8i8ax&v. MS.
(I) Notes on Homilies.
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY. 19
Irvvrayfia* Kara dtyfjuoov.
^vfMJHDPia rf)9 ypaxfrfjs.
1vv€<rlov eirioToXapiov.
Catena Patrum on the Octateuch.
T.
Tf 4
xrniKov .
<t>.
Photius.
Philo Judaeus.
X.
Xpv&avOov Nora/ax.
XpioTo<f>6pov €y\€t,pi8iov9 on the Procession of
the Holy Spirit.
Chrysostom on the Psalms.
(2) Respecting this controversy (concerning unleavened bread), see
the note in Lamb. 1. iii. p. 65.
(3) Propngnaculum Fidel. Tab. B. G. viii. 86. It was edited at
Paris in 1658.
(4) Perhaps, Tvxlkov rfjc iKKXtiaiaarixijc aKoXovBiag, &c. ''The
order of reading the service." Lamb. I. r. 285.
(5) Treatise! of some of the Fathers.
c 2
20 CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS
Volumes relating to the Psalms,
a.
'ClfceWov Kara.
KATAAOrOS r£v Iv BEMBPANAIS1 BIBAIQN.
A.
Canons of the Holy Apostles.
Athanasius, without a beginning.
%Air6aro\os.
% Airopovfieva rrj? delay ypa(f>r)9.
Exposition of the Acts of Apostles.
Anastasius of Sinai.
Canons3 of the Apostles and Fathers.
The Panoplia4 Dogmatica of Alexius Comnenus.
( 1 ) •' A more common form among the later Greeks," says Salmashu,
" than VLtftpp&vatc.
(3) Perhaps the work of Theodoret, entitled Gtot&ptjrov u'c rd
irropa riJQ QitcLQ ypafrjc : or from Maximus, who died In 662. See the
first volume of his Works.
(8) See Lamb.X. ir. p. 107.
(4) See Fabricitu, ?iii. 389. Bib. Gr.
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY.
The Exposition5, by Zonaras, of the Canones, or
Sacred Hymns, of Joannes Damascenus.
'AjTOOTO\0€lKiyY€\lOV*.
B.
HcuriXeuov ircpl, avapypv.
HaaiXeiov tov fieyaXov Soy/mrucr/ iravorirXia.
Lives of Saints.
Basil. 9 vols.
Basil on the Hexaemeron. 2 vols.
The same on the Psalms. 2 vols.
The same on Isaiah.
The Ascetica7 of the same.
BovXyapia? . 2 vols.
JitfiXiov Tovptcitcov.
r.
Tprfyopiq? t$ 0€o\6y<p oyoXia €iy to " iraXiv
'Ir/covs* KOU €19 to " X^** ^^ ^OLfiirpav.
Of the same author. 9 vols.
(5) KoroVcc &va*T&9ifu>u See Lamb. 1. ill. p. 99, and the Notes.
Z**mu lired in 1120.
(6) 8ee Du Conge, Glos. Gr. in Toce ; and Goar, Euchol. 021.
(7) M BaeU was a grand promoter of an ascetic life : all the monks and
asms in the Greek Church are ererywhere of his order." Covell. p. 251.
(8) See this title in the Printed Books, p. 1 1.
(?) Gregory of Nazianzus ; '' col post Johannem Apostolum pro peca-
Haripanegyrieo, et ttar% ltox$v, Theologi cognomen adhaesit." Muratori.
21
99
22 CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS
Of the same, with Scholia.
Tpatfs tvs Oeias ^T^pxwa.
Tpr/yopiov1 tov QcoXoyov eva (SifSXlov, to oiroiov
elvou ypd\jnfiov tov jSacrtAeW 'AXeljlov tov
ILopurqvov, tov ISiov ypdtyifiov.
Gregory of Nyssa.
Exposition of Holy Scripture.
Gregory the Theologue. 2 vols.
Of the same, Epistles.
Tprjyoptov tov QeoXoyov Terpaxrriytov c&fjyqo'if.
Gregory of Nyssa, and others of the Fathers,
on the Lord's Prayer.
Orations of Gregory Nazianzus.
Exposition on the Epistle to the Romans.
A.
Demetrius Gemistus2, irep\ ttjs iv fteyakg
eKKXrjala tov Traxpiapyov XciTOvpyias.
Aiowciov tov 'ApciowayiTOv.
Ato8(OpOV *2lK€\tCDT0V 'XaTOplKOV.
E.
Gospels. Various copies.
(1) "A work of Gregory Nazianzus, which is in the hand-writing of
the king, Alexius Comnenus. His own hand-writing.1
(2) Deacon and prothonotary in Constantinople.
»»
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY.
^vctyyeXucTf avfjtffxovia.
Commentary on the Psalms.
Interpretation of the Old Testament.
*E£cc7rooT€\dpia oXov tov xpovov.
Commentary on one of the Gospels.
Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.
E0pcu/i4 Xoyoi Sidxf>opoi.
23
QaXaacriov* tov afifia kcu 9Avti6\ov.
Theodoret on the Psalms.
Theodore, abbot of Studium.
I.
'Igkt^00 Upvevvlov Xoyot 8id(f)opoi.
Theological Enchiridion of John of Damascus.
Exposition of the History of Job.
%\<oavvo\P tov afifia rfyovfiivov Trjs 'PouOov.
The same.
Isidore. Epistles.
(3) See Gear, Euchol. p. 436.
(4) Bphraem, or Ephraim, born at Nitibis in Mesopotamia, See
Lamb. 1. i. p. 117.
(5) Abbot of ft monastery in Libya. Cave, Hist. Bee,
(6) Lived about 1420. A Byzantine monk.
(7) Perhaps the Epbtle of John the abbot of Raiih to John Climaus.
Lamb. L It. p. 186.
24 CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS
'Icodvin)1 rtp QeoXoytp TrapaKkr)<rw.
'lacuiK afifia rod TLvpov Xoyoi oxtkyitikoL
'lwxxrqft fiaaiXeco? *\v8<ov filo?.
On the Ten Categories.
John of Damascus.
John Scylitza4.
9IaTpo<ro(f>ia . 3 vols.
K.
ItLavovaptov.
A.
Various Discourses.
Discourses of Chrysostom, and others, on Lent.
M.
Maxim us, irtpX airopprjrav tt}$ deca? ypa<f>rj?.
NLa£iftov tou ofioXoyrjrov /cat Avyovorivov,
v *2vfl€(DV T€ TOV vtoV 0€O\oyOV, KdL TW€9
X veapal 'Pgd/julvov {SaaiXetosF.
(1) UapaK\rj<Ttict Prayers. St. John is called, in the Mencta,
'Apxvy^C TJIC OtoXoyiag.
(2) Lived in tbe sixth century.
(3) '■ Historia Judaica de Barlaamo Eremita, et Josapho rege In-
dia." Fab. ix. 737.
(4) John Scylitza, a Thraeesian by birth, wrote an Epitome of His-
tory. Lamb, 1. H. p. 578.
(5) Collection from the writings of Hippocrates, Galen, and Meletius.
(6) For an account of Symeon, see Leo Allot, de Sym. Scriptis, from
p. 143 to 179. Maximus died in 662. Nfapat, Novella, of Homanus:
See Du Conge, in voce.
IN THE PATMOS LIBRARY. 25
McAerioir TLvprjyov /lero^/Nurrov, Discourses on
the Twelve Months. 14 vols.
Imperfect Menaeum.
Menaea for the whole Year. 1 2 vols.
N.
fiurijTc? *2*ppciv €i9 to Kara *la>avyT)v.
Nofuxoy.
Nicola us, archbishop of Constantinople. Letters,
and some Expositions of Scripture.
n.
Life of Pachomius0.
Tlarepuca.10 4 vols.
TlavXov rou oftoXoyrjTov.
Havr/yvpucov11.
Acts of the Apostles1*.
(7) Meletius Syrifus, Cretentis, (Fab. iz. 308.) lived in 1638.
(8) Metropolitan of Strrm in Macedonia, about the year 1077.
(9) Died in the middle of the fourth century.
(10) u Varus adhortaUonei et narrationes ex variif scriptis et vitii
Patnun." Fab. ix. 312.
(11) Liber Ecclesiastical. Du Cange in voce. Sec also Care, l)t Lib.
EecL GrtKorum.
(12) A MS. of Paehymer, who lived in the middle of the thirteenth
century, is omitted in this Catalogue. Poucvin mention* it. Fab, vii. 77(1.
26 CATALOGUE OF MANUSCRIPTS, ETC.
2.
Yvva£apiOTr)sl . 2 vols.
Catenum Patrum on Isaiah.
Also on Pentateuch.
^tovSItov (perhaps of Theodore).
T.
Tpuodtov areAey*.
Y.
Y7raKor}s wept kou aXAcov dpercov.
X.
XpvaooTOfUKa. rofwi 42.
Chrysostom. 8 vols.
(1) Synaxariorum Scriptor. Du Conge in ?oce.
(2) See Du Cange, Gloss, in yoce ; and Csve, De Lib. Ece. GrsBCoram.
(3) Perhaps from Theodore of Studium. See Yriarte, Cat. Bib.
Matt. p. 18.
1. P<rrt of J-o SfU. | 4. Part Mtrita. I 7. MomuUry and Town wf
•1. Part if Sapiia. I fi. Small Wntm Creak. Poimoj.
3. Pert Griam. | 6. Pari of Diworti. | 8. Cava of thi Apocalypu.
CHAP. I.
COB TO PATHOS.
Messenger from the Vizier — Botanical Discoveries
— Casiot vessel — Antient custom of singing
Vespers — Leiraaiuf Lepsia — Arrival otPatmos
— Critical situation of a part of the French
army — Monastery of St. John — Library — Ig-
norance of the Monks — Manuscripts — Disco-
very of the Patmos Plato — Other valuable
Works — Manuscript in the hand-writing of
Alexius Comnenus — State of the island — An-
tient Medals — Extensive prospect — HolyGrotto
— Dinner given by the French Officers — Bar-
thelemy — Women of the island — Bells — Stra-
tagem for obtaining the Greek Manuscripts —
Fruitless attempt to leave the island— View of
30 ISLAND OF COS.
chap whether rare or common, which preceding
authors have already described.1
(1) I, A very curious small species of Plantain (Plantago Linn.), of
which there is a figure and description in Clusius's " Plantarum
Rariorum Historia," lib. v. cap. 16, under the name of Catanance
prima Dioscoridis; but this has been omitted by Linnaus, and by
all the editors of his works. The whole plant is scarcely an inch
and a half in height: its leaves are of a narrow lance-shape, and
ciliated ; the flowers in little, round, upright heads ; and these,
together with the short stalks supporting them, are clothed with
long soft wool. The species ought to be arranged near the Cretan
Plantain (Plantago CretUa), to which it is nearly allied; but it
may be easily distinguished! either by the leaves, or by the heads
of the flowers. We called it Plahtago Catananchb. Plan-
tago foliis lanceolata-limearibus, ciliatis, pilosis; spied subrotundk
erectd, scapo brevissimo bracteisque lanatis. Catanance prima
Dioscoridis. Clas. Plant, Rar. Hist. 2. p. 112. cum tabuld.
II. A non-descript species of Crow-foot Ranunculus, with slender erect
unbranched stems, and single flowers. We have called it
Ranunculus gracilis. Ranunculus cauls simpUci, gracili,
ertcio: foliis radicalibus quinquspartitis tripartitisqus, laciniis
flabslliformibutsinuato-dentatis; caulinis muUipartitislaebmssub'
Unearibus, glabris. Radices tuberosa, fasciculate. Folia radicalia
circumscriptionecordato subrotundA, diametro pollicario vel parum
ultra ; petioH longi, pilosi : folia caulina duo seu tres sessUia, supe-
riora subtr\fida. Caulis pedalis, teres, pubescens. Calyx glaber,
reflexus. Corolla magnitudine R. repentls flavd. Petala obovata.
III. An elegant non-descript species of Trefoil (Trtfolium Linn.) This
we have named Trifolium orn atuk. TrtfoUum annuum, cauH-
bus ramosis sub-erectis, foliolis obovatis argutissime serratis. mw-
cronatis, glabris ; stipulis oppositis ; spicis terminations, solitaries,
subrotundis, basi bracteatis, apice steriHbus ; bracteis suboctonis,
calycis dentibus subulatis aqualibus. Caules striati pilosi. Folia
striata vix semipollicaria, summa opposita. Petioli partiales ciliati,
brevissimi. Spica pedunculata foliii ibreviores. Bractetssubcordato*
ovate, nitida. Calyx corolld dimidio brevior, basin versus pilosus.
IV. A non-
I5LASD OF COS- 31
On Wednesday, October the tmmtk, oar cbap.
interpreter, Amiomio, returned from Budritm with
Wefcwe ceflal it Polyculla.
cigfct to iboaft tsvBti, ftccordisg to
Ac bi vingtvrof tfaeplaate; the pettfr, isrij oral, vfajfe.
We tare crihiit
fax* trt'yArrioi; pefmlit
. mujmHCMlu, wpathk w*m>-
pkjUi vtatrie—i mwmimatc mhrnhmdi TUt qpeciet k afiied to
of Cyriffi; to tfae iffin «6Ur»(m of
^tmAiothtAOmmdaMtmmofCmrfisMMdSimm. From
tike
32 ISLAND OF COS.
chap, the Governor's chiaoux, in a small caique, manned
by a single family of the Island of Casos, con-
cert* sisting of four individuals ; viz. a young widower,
vessel. kjg g0Q^ kjg brother, and a very old man his
uncle. Antonio had found no vessel that would
suit us in the port of Btidrun ; and was returning
in the open boat which conveyed him, when,
coming from the harbour, he beheld the Casiot
bark, coasting slowly eastward, and within hail.
Having boarded this vessel, he found that it
was empty, returning to Casos for want of a
freight He easily prevailed upon the poor
Casiots to steer for Stanchio, in the hope of being
hired by us, and we very gladly availed our-
selves of the opportunity. The vessel was old,
and the large triangular sails were tattered and
rotten. It was, in fact* nothing more than an
open boat : a man of middle stature, standing
in the hatchway with his feet in the hold, had
at least the half of his body above the deck : it
was impossible therefore to contrive any thing
like a cabin, in which to stand upright; but by
the first it differs 'id the form of tbe umbel, which at once distin-
guishes it : from the two last, the difference consists in the form of
the leaves, the few rays which are found in the umbel, the simple
sheath, and the large blossoms.
VII. The Purple Orchis (Orchis Hero'ica, nobis). See Vol. III.
Chap. V. p. 145. Octavo edition.
DEPARTURE FROM COS. 33
clearing and cleansing this place, we found we chap.
could obtain a shelter for the night, and during ^vW
the day we should of course prefer being upon
the deck. Landsmen in harbour, especially in
fine weather, are easily reconciled to all chances
in preparing to go to sea: without further con-
sideration, we hired this vessel at the rate of
four hundred and fifty piastres per month, en-
gaging to find our own provisions, and leaving
the crew to provide for themselves. They fell
to work briskly, preparing their vessel for our
reception ; and by the next evening, at sunset,
having everything necessary on board, we were
desired to embark. Mr. Riley went with us to
take leave of the Governor, from whom we had
experienced great kindness and civility: the
Greek Bishop, and the worthy French Consul,
accompanying us to the shore, and taking leave
of us upon the deck of our little bark. At eight
o'clock we were under weigh: a land breeze
drove us smoothly along ; and the Casiots began
their evening hymn. This reminded us of a Aotient
0 • m Custom of
passage in Long us1, who, in the very seas we ringing
were now traversing, describes a similar cus-
tom : " While they rowed, one of the crew
(1 ) Longtu, lib. iii. Paris, 1778.
VOL. VI.- D
34 COS TO PAT BIOS.
chap, "gang to them ; the rest, as a chorus, at intervals
"joined with him1.'9 The Venetian sailors have
a hymn which they sing exactly after the same
manner, the crew being all upon deck at the
time, and upon their knees9. It is, in fact, a
very antient custom, and is still common all
over the Mediterranean.
The next morning, October the ninth, we found
ourselves to be opposite to the small Isle of
Zerta, bearing s. w. and by w. distant eight miles,
the wind being tranquil, and the sea calm3. We
(1) Oi $k Xotxot, KaOdxep x°P^C> bpof&vuQ
Kard xaipbv rfc tKtivov fwviJQ IfMtav. Longus, ibid.
(2) We have preserved the words of a Venetian Hymn, as we heard
it song every evening, when the weather permitted, in the Black Sea,
on board the Venetian brig in which we sailed from Russia for Can*
stantinople :
" O santa Barbara, nostra avocata !
Che sei madre de la Maria,
Questa na? e, 1'artilleria,
Sempre da ?oi lascis guardata !
Cbor. O Santa Barbara ! frc.
" O santissimo Sacramento !
Jesu Christo, nostro signore !
Qui che guarda tatti l'hore !
Qui che sal? a ogni momento !
Chor. O Santissimo! £c."
(3) •' Leva is nine leagues v. w. and by w. from Stanchio." Perry's
View of the O thorn an Empire, p. 482. Land. 1743.
ISLE OF LBRIA. 35
saw the monastery and town of Leraf as it is now chap.
called.
This little island has three harbours ; and it
is said by Dapper to produce abundance of the
wood of aloes, so much esteemed in Turkey as a
perfume4. Dapper's assertion may be doubted ;
for the enormous price of this wood at Constan-
tinople seems to prove that it is not found,
abundantly, anywhere so near to that city.
The character of the ancient inhabitants of
Lena, who were originally a Milesian colony4,
gave rise to the very antient epigram of
PhocylideSy so often, in after ages, parodied and
imitated, but perhaps never with more success
than by our illustrious countryman, Porson6:
Kcrl roSe Q(jJKv\i$£a>' Aipioi kclkoI' oJ^o piv, o? 8 ov'
riavrcc» irXqv TlpoicXiovg' Kai TlpoicXlrig Atpiog.
(4) Dapper Description des Isles de YArchipel. p. 183. Anut. 1703.
(5) Strabon. Geog. lib. xiv. p. 910. Oxen. 1807. Strabo writes the
nine of thif island both Aipia and Aepog.
(6) In the following Epigram npon the Greek Scholars of Germany,
which the author has transcribed from his own handwriting.
Nififoc tcrk /icrpw//, « TivrOf/tc, ovx o pip. 6c o ov
Uaprtc, xXqy CPMANNOC* o f eppayfjoc cfoZpa Ttvruy.
The Germans in Greek
Are sadly to Peek,
Not five in five score,
But ninety-five more :
All, save only Herman,
And Hermann a German.
D 2
36 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
At half-past eight a. m. we made the Island
of Patmos1; and afterwards passing between
Leria and Lepsia, Samos appeared most beau-
tifully in view, covered by a silvery mist,
softening every object, but concealing none.
Lepsia is now called Lip so. At eleven o'clock
ArriTfti at A' M* we entered the port of La Scala*, in
Patmos. pATM0S# we were surprised by meeting
several boats filled with French soldiers, fishing.
In order to prevent bur caique from being fired
at, as a pirate vessel (which she much re-
sembled, and probably had been), we had
hoisted an English flag given to us by Captain
Clarke, and recommended for our use in the
Archipelago. The Frenchmen, seeing this proud
distinction upon our humble skiff, called out,
by way of taunt, " Voila un beau venez-y voir !
Le Pavilion Anglois ! Tremblez, Messieurs!"
They were much too numerous to venture a
reply, if we had been so disposed ; and as soon
as we landed, we found the quay covered with
French privates, among whom were some of the
(1) lt Patmos is six leagues from Lera, n. w. by tr." Perry's View
of the Levant, p. 483. Lond. 1743.
(2) Dapper says it receired the name of La Scala from the quay
which has been constructed here ; but it may hare been so called from
the steep ascent to the monastery, which begins at the landing-place of
this harbour.
l&ULXB OF PATMOS. 37
inferior officers of the French army. These men chap.
were a part of the army which had surrendered
to oar troops in Egypt, on their passage to
France- The transport hired for their convey- gjtJSuJL
ance was commanded by an Algerine : this man $ S^**
had pat into Patinas, ander the pretence ofj^J??
careening his vessel ; saying that it was unsafe
to continue the voyage until this had been done ;
bat it was feared that he intended to seize an
opportunity, after landing these Frenchmen, to
escape with the ship and all the booty on board*
We had been but a short time on shore, when
a petition was brought to us signed by the French
officers, stating their fears, and begging that we
would represent their case to our Minister at
Constantinople. They said they had already
removed their trunks, and were resolved to
return no more on board the Algerine; the
rascally Captain having twice attempted to
poison their food. All this was uttered in a
very different sort of tone from that in which
we had been hailed upon our coming into the
harbour, and we entered warmly into their
cause* Their situation was, to be sure, critical.
They had property belonging to some of the
French Generals, besides their own effects ; and
all the cases containing these things were lying
38 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
upon the open quay. They were forced to
appoint a regular guard, day and night ;J hourly
dreading, as they told U9, a visit from some of
the numerous pirates which swarm around
Patmos1 : besides all this, the mutinous beha-
viour of their own men made it impossible for
them to rely even upon the sentinels set over
the baggage, for they were constantly in a state
of intoxication with the wine of the island. As
Mr. Riley was going to Constantinople we wrote
to the British Ambassador, briefly explaining the
event that had taken place : and our letter, as
we were afterwards told, procured them another
ship. In the meantime, it was necessary to
take some immediate step for the security rf
their baggage. For this purpose we proposed
making an application to the monks of the
Monastery of the Apocalypse, which is situate
two miles and a half from the quay, upon the
top of a mountain in the highest part of all the
island, close to the town of Patmos. Here it
might be secure from pirates ; for the building is
(1) Patmos has always been exposed to the attacks of pirates,
Tmtrnefort relates, tbat the town was formerly in the port of La Seal*;
bat that the pirates compelled its inhabitants to abandon it, and to
retire to the heights where it is now situate, close to the Monastery *■*
St. John.
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 39
strongly fortified, and it is proof against any chap.
attack of that nature2. A Commissary of the \^v^*
French army proposed to accompany us npon
this expedition; and, as the plan was highly
approved, we set off, without further delay, for
the Convent. The ascent is steep and rugged,
bat practicable for asses and mules ; and upon
the backs of these animals we proposed to
convey the trunks. When we arrived at the Monastery
Monastery, we were quite struck by its size and
substantial appearance* It is a very powerful
fortress, built upon a steep rock, with several
towers and lofty thick walls ; and if duly
mounted with guns, might be made impreg-
nable. According to Towrnefort% it is said to
have been founded by Alexius Comnenus, in con-
sequence of the persuasion of St. Christodulug* ;
but Dapper relates, that the saint himself
founded the Monastery, having obtained per-
mission to this effect from Alexius, towards the
(3) " Palme**, Patmo anticamente dettm, insula pesta nell'Arcipe-
kgo : sopra loqoale : S. Joannia Evangelista seriate il sacro Apoca-
lypti: easendo stato mandato in exilio da Domitiano Imperat. In
aonoria delqnale, on bellissimo Monasterio del sno nome, da snoi
Dadpoli fa fobricato : et da caloiri hora babitato : conserrandosi da
convi essere offew." Martin. Crui. Turco-Gracia, lib. ir. p. 302.
Amst. Bpist. Macar. Basil, sine anno.
(3; Voyage da Levant, torn. II. p. 141. Lyony 1717.
40 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap, end of the tenth century, when he retired to
v^k^/ Patmos, to avoid the persecution of the Turk?.
St. Christodulus had been Abbot of Latros, a day
and a half's journey from JEphesus, where he
presided over twenty convents*. We were re-
ceived by the Superior and by the Bursar of the
Monastery, in the Refectory. Having made
known the cause of our coming, we presented to
them our circular letter from the Capudan Pasha :
this, being written in Turkish, was interpreted
by Mr. Riley. After a short consultation, they
acquiesced in the proposal made for the French
officers ; and agreed to receive the whole of the
baggage at the quay, within their walls ; also a
single officer to superintend the care of it, until
a vessel should arrive from Constantinople, or
from Smyrna, for its removal. This business
being settled, we asked permission to see the
Library, which was readily granted ; and
while the French Commissary went into the
town to hire some mules, the two Caloyers, by
whom we had been received, conducted us
thither.
Library. \ye entered a small oblong chamber, having
(1) Dapper. Descr. des Isles de VArchipel. p. 181. Am$t. 1708.
(*) Ibid.
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 41
a vaulted stone roof; and found it to be nearly chap.
filled with books, of all sizes, in a most neglected v^v^s
state ; some lying upon the floor, a prey to the
damp and to worms ; others standing upon
shelves, but without any kind of order. The
books upon the shelves were all printed
volumes : for these, being more modern, were
regarded as the more valuable, and had a better
station assigned them than the rest, many of
which were considered only as so much rubbish.
Some of the printed books were tolerably well
bound, and in good condition. The Superior
said, these were his favourites; but when we
took down one or two of them to examine their
contents, we discovered that neither the Supe- ignorance
* of the
rior nor his colleague were able to read3. They Monks.
had a confused traditionary recollection of the
names of some of them, but knew no more of
their contents than the Grand Signior. We saw
here the first edition of the Anthologia, in quarto,
printed at Florence, in capital letters, a. d.
(3) Mont. De Choiseul-Govffier (Voyage Pittore$que de la Grece,
torn. I. p. 103.) found only three monks in Patmot who knew bow
to read. Somnini speaks of their extraordinary ignorance ; but he is
mistaken when he affirms that they have no library. " There is no
Khr,ryi" »y» he, " lo the Convent ; and of what utility would it be,
tmong people who, for the most part, cannot read." See SonninV*
TraeeU In Greece, (p. ch. 36. p. 473. Lond. 1801.
42 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
mccccxciv. a beautiful copy. At the extre-
mity of this chamber, which is opposite to the
window, a considerable number of old volumes
of parchment, some with covers and some with-
out, were heaped upon the floor, in the utmost
disorder; and there were evident proofs that
these had been cast aside, and condemned to
answer any purpose for which the parchment
might be required. When we asked the Supe-
rior what they were ? he replied, turning up his
nose with an expression of indifference and
Mann- contempt, Xtip6ypa<f>a I It was, indeed, a mo-
script*, ment in which a literary traveller might be
supposed to doubt the evidence of his senses;
for the whole of this contemned heap consisted
entirely of Greek Manuscripts, and some of
them were of the highest antiquity. We sought
in vain for the Manuscript of Homer, said to
have been copied by a student from Cos, and
alluded to upon a former occasion1. We even
ventured to ask the ignorant monks, if they had
ever heard of the existence of such a relic in
their library. The Bursar9 maintained that he
(1) See Vol. III. Ch. VII. p. 268. Octavo Edition.
(2) Paul Bicaut has well described tbe state in which we found the
Patmot Library; and also mentions this office of Bursar, whose
business it is to take care of the books. •« Every monastery hath
its library of books, wbich are kept in a lofty tower, under the
custody
ISLAKD OF PATMOS.
43
had, and he should know the Manuscript if c°ap.
he saw it5. Presently he produced from the
ewstody of one whom they call £ccvof v\axa7 who it also their steward,
receives their money, and renders an account of all their expenses :
hot we must not imagine that these libraries are conserved in that
order as oars are in the parts of Christendom ; that they are ranked
aad compiled in method, on shelves, with labels of the contents ; or
that they are brushed and kept clean, like the libraries of oar Colleges :
bat they are piled one on the other, without order or method, covered
with dost, and exposed to the worm." Ricaut*s State of the Greek
and Armenian Churches, p. 200. Ltmd. 1679.
(3) This Manuscript was afterwards discovered by Mr. Walpde, in
the hands of a schoolmaster, at the Grotto of the Apocalypse, below
the Monastery. Mr. WalpoWs observations upon this Library are
particularly interesting ; because they prove that one of the Manu-
scripts brought away by the author was known to VUloison ; and that
the removal of the rest had excited some sensation in Greece, as
appears by the inscription over the door.
" There was at Patmos, for many years, a school frequented by the
Modern Greeks, which possessed a higher reputation than any other in
the Levant. This has now yielded the pre-eminence to one established
si KidonUis, near Smyrna. A Greek in the island of Antiparos, who
accompanied as to the grotto there, told me he had been educated at
Patmos; and repeated to me the beginning of the Romance of the
Mthiepk* of Heliodorus. Daring oar stay at Patmos, we visited the
lower Monastery, where the grotto is shewn in which St. John
vmte the Apocalypse; it is called e«o<rrijir6<n-i. Here is also a small
■taool: we found the schoolmaster reading a manuscript Homer,
*ith some notes; it was written on paper; and did not appear of
gnat date.
"The Monastery on the summit of the island is a very handsome
Wding : from it, we had a most extensive view over the Archipelago,
udtorns of the Greek islands. In the two visits I made to Patmos,
I vis not permitted to examine, as I wished, the collection of books
**1 papers in the Library of the Monastery of St. John. There was
■o Greek in the place from whom I could obtain any satisfactory
information. On the shelves, in compartments, are arranged
Theological
44 ISLAND OF P ATM OS.
chap, heap the volume he pretended to recognise :
it was a copy of the Poems of Gregory of
Nazianzus\ written upon vellum, evidently as old
Theological works : these, Villoison, in his visit to the Wand, found I
injured than the manuscripts of classical writers. The monks told
him, that, twenty years before his arrival, they had burnt from two
to three thousand manuscripts; duo vel tria millia circiier codUum
combtususe. Of these rtliqmm Danaton, a copy of the Lexicon o»
C trill had escaped the flames, and was preserved by the Abbot.
" On one side of the Library is a confused heap of what appears,
for the most part, to be manuscript, consisting both of vellum and
paper. Here, if an accurate search were made, might be found
probably many literary fragments of importance. Over the door of
the Library are the following lines ; intended, doubtless, for hexameter
verses : they were placed there, as the date informs us, in 1802.
Aivp'/Avep, Kiivrai 8<rat fativai xiipoypa<poi fiipkoi,
'Avdpi pd fkprepai nivvrip gpvcriov doKiovvai'
Tavr' dpa Ttjpet Qv\a£ alio paWov /3toroio,
T&v $6pog oftvtica og vvv roi yivaro ftyy6po\og yt.
IttI Irovg Aw/3' Mifvog AvyovaTov.
'* In THI8 PLACE ARB LYING WHATEVER MANUSCRIPTS THBftB ARB
OF NOTE: MORB ESTIMABLE ARB THBT TO A WIBB MAM THAN GOLD:
GUARD THBM, THEREPORB, WATCHFULLY, MORB THAN TOUR LIFB ;
FOR ON THEIR ACCOUNT 18 THIS MONASTERY NOW BBCOMB CON-
SPICUOUS.—In THB MONTH OF AUGUST, THB YEAR 1802.**
Walpole MS. JoumaL
The inscription over the door of the Library has been added since
the author's visit ; and the Lexicon of CpriU, mentioned by ViUoimn,
is the identical Codex he bought of the Superior, and brought away.
For a more detailed account of the MSS. of Greece, the reader is
referred to some remarks by Mr. Walpole, in the beginning of this
Section.
(1 ) In the First Edition of this Part of the Author's Travels, he had
inadvertently written the name of this city Naziamen; for which he
was reproved by a writer, in the Quarterly Review, maintaining
that
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 45
a9 the ninth century. The cover and some of chap.
the outer leaves had been torn off; but the rest *^/W
was perfect The ink had become red ; a cir-
cumstance alluded to by Montfaucon, in ascer-
taining the age of Greek Manuscripts ; and the
writing throughout manifested an equal degree
of antiquity*. What was to be done ? To
betray any extraordinary desire to get posses-
sion of these treasures, would inevitably prevent
all possibility of obtaining any of them. We
referred the matter to Mr. Riley, as to a person
habituated in dealing with knavish Greeks ; and
presently such a jabbering took place, accom-
panied with so many significant shrugs, winks,
nods, and grimaces, that it was plain something
that it ought to be written Naxiansum ! ! ! for which no authority can
be adduced in the Greek language. The real name of this city was
Xaziavzus. To prove this, it is only necessary to refer to the life of
Gregory Naxiansen by Gregory Nyssen ; HarpiQ pkv a&rtp, tj Sivripa
riv K«x«a&0Kdy, w6A*c Si N AZIANZ0Z. (Gregor. Nations. Vit.p.
& L. Par. 1008.) But in the Themes of Constantine Porphyrogenitus
(Thema Second, apud Bandar. Imper. Orient, torn. 1. p. 7.) the same
city is also called Nazianzus. Trie Sk tivripag KannaSoKiag tioi
*iXc<£ vwo t)yip6va9 b*r& Tvava, QavorivofaoXiQ, Kvj3c<rrfpa,
HAZIANZ02, r. r. X. and in the Syneedemus of Hierocles, it is also
written Na£iay£o£. Vid. p. 46. torn. 1. Bandur, Imper. Orient.
(2) "Quod autem jam in vetostioribus manuscriptit Qraecis conspi-
eitnat atramentum, a prisco nigrore multum recessit: nee tamen
onroino flavom languiduroque evasit; sed fulvum mtilamque manet,
Qtperssepe a minii colore non multum recedat. Id autem observes
is Codicibos permultis a quarto ad duodeclmum usque sa?culum." —
Montfkucon. PaUtog. Grate, lib. i. c. 1. p. 2. Paris, 1708.
46 ISLAND OP PATMOS.
chap, like a negotiation was going on. The author,
v^vw/ meanwhile, continued to inspect the heap ; and
had soon selected the fairest specimen of Gre-
cian calligraphy which has descended to modern
times. It was a copy of the twenty-four first
SmSm"7 Dialogues of Plato, written throughout, upon
PtotoV vellum, in the same exquisite character; con-
cluding with a date, and the name of the
calligraphist. The whole of this could not be
ascertained at the instant1. It was a single
(1) This Manuscript, after the author's return to England, remained
in the bands of his friend, the late Professor Porson, until bis death.
It Is now, with the other MSS. from Pat mot. fee. in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford. For further particulars concerning it, the reader
is therefore referred to the Catalogue of all the MSS. brought from
Greece by the author, written by the celebrated Professor Gaitford, and
printed at the Clarendon Press in 1812; a work which has impressed
every scholar with the most profound admiration of the writer's
learning and great critical acumen. Reference may also be made to
the observations of on r, who could best have appreciated Professor
GauforaVs surprising talents ; namely, of the illustrious Porson him-
self; as they are now published in his Adversaria, by his successor
Professor Monk, and the Rev. Charlet B lorn field ; the learned editors,
respectively, of JEuripides and of JSschyhu . To mention every person
who has contributed to the celebrity of this inestimable volume,
would be to enumerate the names of almost all the eminent Greek
scholars in the kingdom. Of the importance of the marginal notes,
and the curious fragments they contained from Greek Plays that are
lust, together with a variety of particulars relating to the other
Manuscripts here mentioned, the author does not intend to add a
syllable: it were presumptive and supeifluous to do so, after the
observations already published upon the subject. His only aim is, to
give a general narrative of the manner in which he succeeded in
rescuing these Manuscripts from rottenness and certain destruction in
the Monastery.
r
««
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 47
volume in folio, bound in wood. The cover chap.
was full of worms, and falling to pieces : a v^y^/
paper label appeared at the back, inscribed, in
a modern hand, AmXoyot SwKparou? ; but the
letters of Plato's name, separated by stars,
appeared very distinctly as a head-piece to the
first page of the Manuscript, in this manner :
n*A*A*T#n*N*o*c
A postscript at the end of the volume stated that
the Manuscript had been " written by John the
Calligraphistj for Arethas, Dean of Patrte, in
the month of November 896, the 14. year of the
Indiction, and 6404. year of the world, in the
** reign of Leo son of Basilius, for the sum of
" thirteen Byzantine Nummi," about eight
guineas of our money. The Manuscript men-
tioned by Dorville on Chariton? is one year older.
The author afterwards discovered a Lexicon i>toeo¥«T
of otber
of St. Cyrill of Alexandria^ written upon vfoM*
paper, without any date, and contained in a
volume of Miscellanies. He also found two
small volumes of the Psalms and of Greek
Hymns, accompanied by unknown characters,
serving as ancient Greek musical notes. They are
(2) See Dorville on Chariton, pp. 49, 50.
48 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap, the same which the Abbe Barthelemy and other
writers have noticed; but their history has
never been illustrated. Besides these, he ob-
served, in a Manuscript of very diminutive size,
the curious work of Phile upon Animals1, con-
taining an account of the Ibis, bound up with
twenty-three other Tracts upon a great variety
of subjects*. After removing these volumes
from a quantity of Theological writings, detached
fragments, worm eaten wooden covers (that
had belonged to books once literally bound in
boards), scraps of parchment, Lives of Hermits,
and other litter, all further inquiry was stopped
by the promptitude and caution of Mr. Riley,
who told us the Superior had agreed to sell the
few articles we had selected, but that it would
be impossible to purchase more ; and that even
these would be lost, if we ventured to expose
them to the observation of any of the inhabi-
tants of the town. Then telling us what sum he
had agreed to give for them, he concealed two
of the smaller volumes in the folds of his
Turkish habit, entrusting to the honour of the
two Caloyers the task of conveying the others
(1) Tov $1X1? **£pi gutty ISiotijto^ Sid <rrix*v.
(3) See Profewor Oaitford's " Cutalogus $ive Notitia Manutcrip-
torum" fc.p. 02. Oxen. 1812.
\
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 49
on board our vessel in the harbour. Upon this chap.
honour, it must be confessed, we did not rely «-*%rw
with so much confidence as we ought to have
done ; but as there was no other method which
promised any chance of success, we were forced
to comply ; and we left, as we believed, the
most valuable part of our acquisition in very
doubtful hands* Just as we had concluded this
bargain, the French Commissary returned ; and
finding us busied in the Library, afforded an
amusing specimen of the sort of system pur-
sued by his countrymen, upon such occasions.
" Do you find," said he, " any thing worth your
notice, among all this rubbish ?" We answered,
that there were many things we would gladly
purchase. " Purchase !" he added, " I should
never think of purchasing from such a herd of
swine: if I saw any thing I might require, I
should, without ceremony, put it in my pocket,
and say, Bon jour !"
After this, some keys were produced, belong-
ing to an old chest that stood opposite to the
door of the Library ; and we were shewn a few
antiquities which the monks had been taught
to consider as valuable. Among these, the 8CriP* "»
& ' the hand-
first thing they shewed to us was an origi- writing 0f
Alexius
kal Letter from the Emperor Alexius Comnenu*.
VOL. VI. e
50 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap. Comnenus, concerning the establishment of
their Monastery, inscribed upon a large roll,
and precisely corresponding, in the style of the
manuscript, with the fragment preserved by
Montfaucon, in his Palceographia1 . Besides this
were other rolls of record, the deeds of suc-
ceeding Emperors, with their seals affixed,
relating to the affairs of the Convent. We cal-
culated the number of volumes in the Library
to be about a thousand ; and of this number,
above two hundred were in manuscript. After
we had left the Library, we saw, upon a shelf in
the Refectory, the most splendid Manuscript
of the whole collection, in two folio volumes,
richly adorned : it was called the Theology
of Gregory of Nazianzvs*, and purported to
be throughout in the handwriting of the
(0 " Impbratoris Giubci Epistol/b Insighb Fragmrntum.
See Montfaucon, Palaog. Qrmc. p. 266. Part*, 1708. This Epistle
is believed by Montfaucon (from the remains of the Signature
****tantinus) to have been written in the ninth century, by
Constantinu* Copronymus, to Pepin, the French king. The style of
the writing very much resembles that which is now lying in the Library
at Pat mot,
(2) Cave mentions a work of Oregorius Natianzenut under this
title : " De Theotogid Orativnet Y. contra Ewtomianoe et Macedo-
nians:" (see Sniptor. Ecclesiast. Hist. Lit. Saxulum Arianum,
p. 200. Lond. 1688.) but the Patmos MS. being in two large folio
volumes, in all probability contains other of Gregory'* writings.
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 51
Emperor Alexius3. Nothing could be more chap.
beautiful. As a singular circumstance, it may ^^-
also be mentioned, that we saw upon the same
shelf, and by the side of this, a Manuscript
of the writings of Gregory's greatest admirer,
Erasmus.
The Capudan Pasha's letter enabled us to
order bread from the island for our voyage ; and
this the monks promised to see provided. The state of
inhabitants import wheat from the Black Sea;theU}9!ad'
and they Jhave twelve small vessels engaged in
commerce, with which they trade to different
ports in the Euxine and to the Adriatic, bringing
corn for their own use, and also carrying it as
far as Ancona in Italy. In Tourneforfs time,
there were hardly three hundred men upon the
island, and at least twenty women to one man.
The population remains nearly the same as it
(3) This MS. is noticed in the Patmos Catalogue (See the beginning
qf this volume, p. 21.); and the same circumstance is related of the
hand-writing of the Emperor Alexius: it is there called, in modern
Greek, " A work of Gregory the Theologian, which is in the hand-
writing of the Emperor Alexius Comnenuj ; his oum hand-\oriting :"
Tpnyooiov rov OtoXdyov tva /3t/3\iov, rb brrolov tlvai ypaif/tuov
rov /3a<rc\!«»c 'A\c£/ov rov Kouvnpov rov iBLov ypdxpifiov. There
were, however, two Calligraphic* of this name Alexius ; the one wrote
the Lives of the Saints in 1202 ; the other, a MS. of Hippocrates in
the fourteenth century. See Montfaueon, Pal, Or. lib. i. p. 94.
Par. 171)8.
E 2
52
ISLAND OF PATHOS.
Ancient
Medals.
was when he wrote ; for, as it is observed by
Sonnini\ " While the monasteries swarm with
sluggards, the fields become deserts ; and popu-
lation is consequently diminished." Yet, in the
neighbouring isles, Patmos is described as the
University of the Archipelago : it is hither that
the Greek families send their sons to be edu-
cated, by a set of monks unable to read their
own, or any other language. After we left the
Monastery, we paid a visit to Mr. Antonio Gilly,
the Prussian Consul, of whom we purchased
several Greek medals. Among these, were a
bronze medal of JSleusis, representing Ceres in
her car, drawn by two serpents, with a sow on
the reverse; and two beautiful gold medals of
Lysmachus and of Philip, in as high a state of
preservation as if they had been just issued
from the mint. The freshness of their appearance
might induce a suspicion of their being a modern
fabrication, if it were not a well-known fact that
to imitate the best coinage of Thrace and Mace-
donia is impossible ; and therefore, in such cases,
we may defy imposture. The present price of
Greek medals, throughout the Levant, is gene-
rally the same ; unless they be found, as it
(1) Travels in Greece, ke. p. 473. Lond. 1801.
ISLAND OP PATMOB. 53
sometimes happens, in the hands of trading chap.
antiquaries and ignorant pretenders to a know*',
ledge of antiquity, when the most absurd and
exorbitant prices are set upon them. The
usual rate of selling them, among the poor arti-
ficers in gold and silver found in almost all the
towns, is this : for gold medals, twice their
weight in Venetian sequins ; for silver, from two
piastres to five, or six, according to the size;
and for bronze2, about a pard for each medal.
Hence it must be evident, that, with the excep-
tion of the silver, (which are generally of the
highest antiquity, and always estimated below
their present price in England), the medals of
Greece may be purchased cheaper in London
than in the Levant. Indeed the Grecian copper
coinage is now considered as being of such
modern date, that it is little valued by collectors
of Greek medals3. Roman copper is found in
great abundance ; and among this may be easily
obtained many rare and valuable coins, illus-
(2) The author has generally used the word bronze, instead of brass,
as applied to Grecian antiquities ; and for this reason : antient
bronze consists of copper containing about ten per cent* of tin, and
therefore differs from brass, which is a compound of copper and
(3) It hat been sold in London for a price equivalent to the weight
«>f the metal.
54 ISLAND OP PATMOS.
chap, trating the history of Grecian cities, where no
medals were struck during the period in which
they were governed by their own laws. No
medal of Patmos has been discovered ; neither
is it likely that any ever did exist, as the island
was hardly inhabited when the Romans made it
a place of exile. The gold medals sold to us by
the Prussian Consul, were, in all probability, not
found upon the island, but brought by its trading
vessels : it is a common occurrence to meet with
such antiquities, in the hands of Greek sailors,
who collect them for sale. The medal of Lysi-
machus exhibited, as usual, a fine portrait of the
deified Alexander ; whose image, " expressed on
gold or silver," was so long considered as pro-
pitious to its possessor1. Concerning the medals
of Lysimachns, and this image, the author must
refer to a former work, rather than repeat
what has been already published*; but with
regard to the gold medals of Philip, bearing the
legend ♦IAIPPOY, so much doubt has gene-
rally prevailed, that it may be proper to add
a few words upon the subject. It has been usual
(1) " Dicuntur juvari in omni acta suo qui Alexandra m ex prestum
▼el auro gestitant vel argento." TrebeU. Pollio, Quiet, xiii. p. 1000.
Hist Rom. Script. apudH.Stepk.X5CB.
(2) See " Tomb of Alexander." Camb. 1806.
ISLAND OF PATMOS 55
to attribute them to Philip the Second, the chap.
father of Alexander the Great, simply from the
circumstance of the gold mines being dis-
covered during his time, and of which he was the
possessor3. There is, however, much greater
probability that they were struck during the
reign of Philip Arid^eus, and for the following
reasons : first, that some of them have the
legend BAZIAEflZ+IAirrOY, a title not found
upon Greek medals before the time of Alexander
the Great4; secondly, that in these medals the
art of coining was carried to a degree of per-
fection unknown in any former period, and to
which it never afterwards attained. The
medals of the Macedonian kings before the age
of Alexander have no resemblance, whether in
form, in weight, in substance, or in the style
of their fabrication, to those which bear the
name of Philip: the only examples to be
compared with them, in beauty and perfection
of workmanship, are those of Lysimachus ;
and even these are in a certain degree inferior.
Many of the medals of Alexander the Great,
(3) PeUerin Recoeil de Medailies de Rois, p. 9. Paris, 1763.
(4) Hardouin and Frcelich ascribed all the medals with this legend
to Philip Am daub. Echhel maintained a different opinion. See
Doctrina Num. Vet. Pars I. vol. II. p. 94. Vindobon. 1794.
56 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap, although remarkable for boldness of execution
and for the sharpness of the die, betray some-
thing of the rude style discernible in the
coinage of his predecessors, although the art
were subsequently carried to such an extra-
ordinary point of perfection during the reigns
of Lysimachus and of Philip Arid&us. In order
to form a correct opinion upon this subject,
and to be convinced that the gold coinage now
alluded to did not belong to the age of Philip
the Second, something more is requisite than
the examination of a particular medal: it is
necessary to view the whole series of the coins
of the Macedonian kings, and, by observing
the changes introduced into their mint, to
become acquainted with the style which denoted
the progress of the art at any particular
period ; from the unfigured reverses and indented
squares of Alexander the First and of Archelaiis,
struck nearly five centuries before the Christian
sera, to the exquisite perfection of design and
the elegant fabrication visible in the medals of
Macedon and Thrace, under the immediate suc-
cessors of Alexander the Great.
A few of the inhabitants came to the Consul's
house, to see us. Nothing can be more remark-
able than the situation of the town, built upon
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 57
the edge of a vast crater, sloping off, on either chap.
side like the roof of a tiled house. Perry has ^v^
compared it to " an ass's back ;*' upon the
highest ridge of which stands the Monastery1.
The inhabitants, therefore, have no space for
exercise, either on foot or on horseback: they
can only descend and ascend by the rugged
path that leads to the harbour. On one of
the towers of the Monastery, a look-out is
regularly kept for the pirates ; the view here extensive
being so extensive, that no vessel can approach ^nmpee^
the island without being perceived. We re-
turned, to enjoy the prospect from this place.
The sight was extremely magnificent; as may
be conceived by any reader who will judge from
the appearance exhibited by the island itself,
and by this Monastery, at the distance of six
leagues at sea*. We commanded the whole
Island of Amorgos, which is nearly forty miles
from the nearest point of Patmo? ; and were
(I) Perrtfi View of the Levant, p. 483. Loud. 1743. Toumefort
makes the tame comparison with reference to another bland, that of
St. Mimas .- " Die eat faite en dos d'ane." Voyage du Levant, tern. II.
Lett. x. p. 150. Lyon, 1717.
(9) See the former Section, VoL II. of the Quarto Edition, Plate
facing p. 194.
(3) Thirteen leagues, according to the Chart of VAnvilU, published
at Peril, October, 1756.
58 ISLAND OP PATMOS.
chap, surrounded by many of the grandest objects
in the Archipelago.
Grotto.
Holy As we descended from the great Monastery
of St. John, we turned off, upon our right, to
visit a smaller edifice of the same nature,
erected over a cave, or grot, where the Apo-
calypse, attributed to that Evangelist, is said to
have been written. It can hardly be considered
as any other than a hermitage, and it is en-
tirely dependent upon the principal Monastery.
As to the cave itself, whence this building
derives its origin, and to which it owes all its
pretended sanctity, it may be supposed that
any other cave would have answered the pur-
pose fully as well : it is not spacious enough
to have afforded a habitation even for a hermit ;
and there is not the slightest probability that
any thing related concerning it, by the monks,
is founded in truth. The reader will find a very
accurate representation of it in Tournefort\
shewing the crevices of the stone through which
it is pretended that the Holy Spirit conveyed
its dictates to the Apostle. It affords another
striking proof, in addition to many already
enumerated, that there is no degree of absurdity
(1) Voyage du Levant, torn. II. p. 146. <k Lyon,
1717.
\
\
v
ISLAND OP PATMOS. 59
too -gross for the purposes of altarage and super- chap.
stition. There seemed to be something like v^v^s
a school held in the building erected about
this cave ; but the only monk who shewed the
place to us, and who appeared to superintend
the seminary, was not much better informed
than his godly brethren in the parent monas-
tery*.
Descending ftbm this place towards the Port Di«m«*
° * given by
of La Scala, we were met by several of the the French
J Officers.
Frenchmen^ coming with the Commissary to
invite us to dinner : so grateful were they for
the attention paid to their request, and the
consequent safety of their baggage, that each
seemed to strive with the other who could
render us the greater civility. We accepted
their invitation; and were conducted into a
warehouse near the quay, where a large
table was prepared, with fish, wine, and biscuit.
Here we found several French women, conversing
with their usual gaiety; and we all sat down
together. During dinner, the conversation
turned upon the events that had happened in
(9) Mr. WalpoU, who arrived afterwards, has mentioned, in his
Journal, that the schoolmaster wot able to read. He found him read-
ing a Manuscript of the Odyssey of Horner. See the Extract from
Mr. Walpole's Journal, in a preceding page of this Chapter.
60 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap. Egypt ; and, as each began to boast of his per-
^v**" sonal prowess in the late campaign, some con-
tradictions took place, and a most turbulent
BarUuUmy. scene of dispute ensued. In the midst of this,
a figure entered the warehouse, whose appear-
ance silenced the whole party, and was parti-
cularly gratifying to our curiosity. It was
Barthelemy, the famous Greek pirate, who en-
gaged in the French service under BuonapartS,
and was chief of a regiment of Mamalukes in
Egypt. His figure was uncommonly martial
and dignified : he wore the Mamaluke dress, and
carried a large knotted club as a walking-staff.
Placing himself at the table, he began to com-
plain, in a very hoarse voice, of the treatment
he had experienced, which he stated to he con-
trary to the most solemn stipulations ; contrary
to his deserts ; and highly dishonourable to the
French army, for whom he had fought so many
battles, and made such important sacrifices.
They made free, it seemed, with his women;
of whom he had many, that he was conveying,
as his property, to France. One or two of the
principal persons present endeavoured to pacify
him, by the assurance that he should not be
molested in future; and filling a large goblet
of wine, proposed to him to drink " Success to
the Republic, and the liberation of Greece." The
\
v
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 61
wary old Corsair did not appear to relish the chap.
toast; and had probably, by this time, both
heard and seen quite enough of Gallic emanci-
pation.
We remained near a week at Patmos. The
next day we revisited the Monastery, and were
again admitted to the Library. We found
it would be impossible to purchase any other
Manuscripts than those for which we had sti-
pulated ; for upon this, and every subsequent
occasion, some of the inhabitants of the town
thought proper to accompany us to the Con-
vent. The Superior took occasion to assure
us, that both he and the Bursar were willing
enough to part with the xHP°7Pa4>a > but that if
it were known to have brought them any gain,
the people of Patmos, acting as spies for the
Capudan Pasha, would make it the cause of a
very heavy imposition upon the Monastery.
We could not procure a Catalogue, either of
the Manuscripts or of the printed books1.
(1) The Marquis of SHgo afterwards visited Patmos, and obtained
the Catalogue alluded to in a preceding Note : it is written in modem
Greek, and contains a List of all the Books in the Patmos Library.
This Catalogue his Lordship kiudly presented to the author. Nothing
n said in it as to the editions of the different authors, nor a syllable
concerning the age of the Manuscripts: the reader is, however, re-
ferred to it, for more detailed information concerning the latter ; and
to the Dissertation by Mr. WalpoU, in the beginning of this volume.
62 ISLAND OF PATMOS*
chap. This day we dined with the monks, and after*
L wards went again into the town. The women
of the island, here collected as it were upon a
single point, are so generally handsome, that
it is an uncommon sight to meet with any who
are otherwise. Their houses are kept very
clean: it is customary with them to raise
their beds at least ten feet from the floor,
and they ascend to them by steps. Dapper
mentions several villages in Patmos, existing at
present only in his work1. The island pro-
duces very little wheat, and still less barley :
even the corn consumed in the Monastery is
brought from the Black Sea.. There are several
bells at the Monastery, which the monks are
frequently ringing. The enjoyment of this
noise is considered as a great indulgence ; bells
being prohibited by the Turks. Dapper says,
that, excepting upon Mount Libanns, Patmos is
the only place in all the Turkish empire where
bells may be heard* : in this he is, however,
mistaken, for Naxos has the same privilege.
The whole of Sunday, October the eleventh,
was passed in great anxiety, being the day on
which the Superior of the Monastery had
Bells.
(1) Dapper, Description des Isles de VArehipelp. 181. Amti. 1703.
(2) Ibid. p. 180.
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 63
engaged to send the remaining Manuscripts CHAP
purchased by the author from the Library. Mr. L
Riley had left Patmos for Constantinople ; and we
began to fear, as the evening approached, that
his absence might become the pretext for a
breach of contract on the part of the monks.
Towards sun-set, being upon the deck of our
caique, and looking towards the mountain, we
discerned a person coming down the steep
descent from the Monastery towards the port ;
presently, as he drew near, we perceived that
he had a large basket upon his head, and that
he was coming towards the quay, opposite to
the spot where our vessel was at anchor. Upon
his arrival, we saw him making signs for a
boat; and we sent to him the little skiff belong-
ing to our caique. As he came alongside, he said, stratagem
aloud, that he had brought the bread ordered ing0the
for us in consequence of our letter from the^Hpta?"
Capudan Pasha ; but coming upon deck, he gave
a signi&caut wink, and told us the Superior
desired that we would "empty the basket
ourselves, and count the loaves, to see that
all was right." We took the hint, and hurried
with the precious charge into our birth; where,
having turned the basket bottom upwards, we
found, to our great joy, the Manuscript of
Plato, the Poems of Gregory, the work of
64
ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap. Phile, with the other Tracts, the two volumes
^v-w containing the Greek Musical Notes, and the
volume of Miscellanies containing the Lexicon
op St. Cyrill: these we instantly concealed
beneath a mattress in one of our cots ; and
making a grand display of the loaves, returned
with the basket upon deck, giving a handsome
present to the porter, and desiring he would
inform the Superior, with our most grateful
acknowledgments, that " all was perfectly right"
Having set him again on shore, we gave orders
to our Captain to have; every thing ready for
sailing the next morning, and to stand out of
the port as soon after sun-rise as possible; in-
tending to leave Patmos.
In this design we were, however, disap-
pointed ; but as the delay which ensued gave us
an opportunity of discovering some curious
geological phaenomena, we had no reason to
regret that we were thus detained.
FmitieM At seven o'clock the next morning, the wind
leave the served, and we hoisted sail. Steering east out
of the harbour, and then putting the head of
our caique towards the north, we endeavoured
to double the north-eastern point of the island.
Tournefort, who is always accurate, published,
\
ISLAND OF P ATM OS. 65
a century ago, a better map of Patmas than can chap.
be found in any other work1. Such is often the
inaccuracy of Dapper, notwithstanding the in-
dustry shewn in his compilation relative to the
islands of the Archipelago, that he describes the
harbour of La Scala as on the western side of the
island, opposite to the Isle of Naxos* ; perhaps
confounding it with Tournef art's Port de Merica.
Patmos has many ports ; and from this cause
it is so much infested by pirates, who resort to
the port of La Scala to careen their vessels, and
for fresh water. During the last war main-
tained by the Venetians against Candia, La Scala
was the wintering-place of their fleet : there are
many ruined buildings near the quay. The
most contradictory accounts have been pub-
lished of the island ; some describing it as the
most barren rock of the Archipelago*, and others
(1) See the Vignette to thU Chapter, taken from the edition of
Lm, 17)7, torn. II. p. 140 ; and engraved with little addition.
(2) "Lemeffleor port de cette tie et tout YArckipel eat an devant
da la rille de Patino, da cote cT Occident f *is-a ?is de Hie de Naxos.
H e«t generalement conno. pmrmi lea mariniera tons le nom de La
8*la.M (Description des Isles derArchipel. p. 179. Amst. 1703.) To
t*fa miatakea a compiler may be liable ; bat when he undertakes to
explain the legends upon Greek medals, the reader Is little prepared for
u interpretation like the following. " KOINONKrnPIQN, c'est a
*«, Comon de* Cyprisns. Ce Conon etoit apparemment le fondateur
^temple"!!! Ibid. p. 529.
(3) Tournefortj torn. II. p. 142. Lyon, 1717.
VOL. VI. F
66 ISLAND OF PATM08.
chap, extolling its fertility1. From all that we could
v^-v^/ collect upon the subject, it is as capable of
repaying the labours of husbandry as any other
of the neighbouring isles, were it not for the
danger to which property is exposed, from the
continual incursions of the pirates. Its har-
bours render it an important station, as a place
of commerce : but the circumference of the
whole island does not exceed eighteen miles,
although, according to Pliny, it be equal to
thirty*. It seems to have been hardly known
before the Christian sera. Strabo merely notices
its situation as one of the Sporades, near to
AmorgoSj Lebinthus, and Leria*.
view of As we sailed to the northward of the island.
Samos, # 7
we were surprised to see Samos so distinctly in
view. It is hardly possible that the relative
situation of Samos and Patmos can be accurately
laid down in Dy Antilles, or any more recent
chart : for keeping up to windward, we found
ourselves to be so close under Samos, that we had
a clear view, both of the island and of the
(1) Dapper, p. 179. Amtt. 1703. Gcorgirenez, fa.
(2) Hiat. Nat. lib. iv. cap. 18. torn. I. p. 224. L. Bat. 16S5.
(3) UXrjaiov & l<rrl gal ij TLarpoq, r. r. X. Strabon Oeoa. lib. xviLp.
712. Oxon. 1807.
ISLE OF SAMOS. 67
town4. This island, the most conspicuous ob- chap.
ject, not only of the Ionian Sea, but of all the
JEgean, is less visited, and of course less known,
than any other ; it is one of the largest and
most considerable of them ull ; and so near to
the main land, that it has been affirmed persons
upon the opposite coasts may hear each other
speak5. The generality of Greek authors de-
scribe its circumference as equal to eighty-seven
and a half of our miles. Strabo considers it as
somewhat less : but its surprising elevation and
relative position, with regard to the lower
islands of Fourni and Nicaria, make it a land-
mark all over the Archipelago. According to
Constantine Porphyrogenitus any very lofty place
was called Samof. The name of KATABATH
was antiently given to the terrible rock which
forms the cape and precipice upon its western
side, as collecting the clouds, and generating
thunder : Jupiter the Thunderer being also called
Kara/Sarii? Zcuc7. One of the monasteries is
(4) The relative position of these islands seems to be more accu-
rately delineated in the old Map of Antibnt Greece, by William
JhHOe, dated Paris, October 1707.
(5) Dapper, p. 190. Amst. 1703.
(6) See also Tournefort, torn. IT. lett. 3. Lyon, 1717.
(7) Karafidriic Zt$c, xapa xb *ara/3i/3a£av rbv Ktpavvov. Suidat.
Jul. Poll, lib i. cap. 1. Libanius, Legat. ad Julian, Pausan. Eliac.
prior
F 2
68 ISLE OF 8AMOS.
chap, called Tlavayta /3pov§a, Our Lady of the Thunder.
There are four nunneries upon the island, and
above three hundred private chapels ; yet
the population does not exceed 12,000 men ;
which is explained by Toumefort, who says
that the island is entirely in the hands of church-
men, possessing seven monasteries. The swarm
of Caloyers and Oreek Papas have made a desert
of this fine island ; where all the qualification
necessary to become a priest, and live by the
industry of others, is the talent of being able
to repeat mass from memory. The Bishop of
Samos, who is also Bishop of Nicaria, enjoys
an annual income of two thousand crowns ; and
derives, besides, a considerable revenue from
the important services he renders to the islanders,
in blessing for them their water and their cattle
in the beginning of May. All the produce of
the dairies on that day belongs to him : he has
also two beasts out of every herd1. In such a
state of affairs, we cannot wonder at the change
that has taken place between the antient and
the modern population of Samos : its fertility in
former ages made it the subject of proverbial
■
prior Pharnutus in Jovie cognominibut, speak of Jupiter Kareufiartic,
who dart$ the thunder. See also Tournef, Voy, du Leo, torn, II. p,
105. Lyon, 1717 ; whence this note is taken.
(I) See Tournef. Voy, du Lev, torn, II. p. 107. Lyon, 1717.
ISLE OF SAMOS. 69
admiration and praise*. It is related in Athe- chap.
that the fruit and rose trees of the island
bore twice a year3. Tournefart says, that Sarnos
is infested with wolves ; and that tigers some-
times arrive from the main land, after crossing
the little Boccazf ; thereby confirming an obser-
vation made by the author in the former
section, with regard to the existence of tigers in
Ada Minor.
Passing across the great Boccaze, between
Samos and Icaria, we were much struck by the
extraordinary intensity of the deep blue colour
of the sea ; and this, which is as much a distin-
guishing characteristic of the Archipelago as the
brightness of its sky, has been noticed by no
writer, excepting our enchanting bard, whose
poems are now so deservedly the theme of
general praise5.
As evening drew on, we took the bearings of
(9) 'On fifni tai 6pvi0*v yaXa ; taQdxtp xov gal Mfvavfyog l+tl-
Striken. Otog. lib. xir. p. 914. Ed. Oxon.
(3) Athen. BHpn, lib. sir.
(4) Voyage du Lee. torn. II. p. 119. Lycn, 1717.
(5) " He that has sailed upon the dark blue sea,
" Has viewed at times, I ween, a full fair sight."
Byron'i* Child* Harold," p. &. Lomd. 1812.
70 I C A R I A.
chap, the principal headlands then in view; and found
them to be accurately as follow :
Faurni n.
Santos n. n. e.
Asiatic Coast .... e. n. e.
La Scala, Pattnos Port. s. e.
Groupe of small Isles s. and by w.
Island called Anguaro s. w.
Amor g os s. w. and by w.
Naxos w. and by s.
Cape of lcaria . . . . n. w. &by w.&w.n.w.
Whenever it is practicable to make these ob-
servations at sunset in the Archipelago, sur-
rounded as a vessel always is by land, they
ought to be carefully noticed.
After sunset, we were becalmed off the Point
of lcaria; and remained, during part of the
night, in a state of great apprehension, owing
to the fears of our mariners with regard to the
pirates. Some fires were exhibited on shore ;
first one, and then another above it, until we
saw five burning at the same time. These our
Captain maintained to be signals made by
corsairs on the island, who were collecting to
attack our vessel; consequently we extinguished
every light on board, and began to row with all
the energy in our power, drawing off towards
\
ICARIA. 71
Naxos. Icaria is at present one of the grand
resorts of these predatory rovers, who are
always upon the watch for ships passing the
Boccaze of Santos* Small vessels, unfortunately
becalmed near to their haunts, have but little
chance of escaping. Icaria is at present hardly
known : it once gave name to the Icarian Sea1,
and had two towns in the time of Pliny1. These
must have been the small towns mentioned by
Strabo*, of CEnoe, and Drepanum; called, in
the Doric dialect, Drecanum. No traveller has
sought for any antiquities upon Icaria ; yet we
are further informed by Strabo*, that it had a
temple of Diana, called Tauropolium ; and Golt-
zius has preserved a medal of the island, with the
legend IKAPII2N, representing Europa passing
the sea upon a bull, with the effigy of Diana,
armed with a bow, and accompanied by a
hound, upon the reverse. It received the name
of Icaria, from the story of the flight of Icarus
from Crete, whose body, fabled to have been cast
upon this island, after falling into the JEgean,
(1) Nif<roc v 'Uapia, &+' i}c rb 'Uaptov rt\ayo£. Strabon. Geog. lib.
lit. p. 915. Ooti. 1807.
" Icarus Icarus nomina fecit aquis."
Ovid. Trist. lib. ill. El. 4. v. 22.
(2) " Cam oppidii duobus, tertio amisso." Hist. Nat. lib. cap. 12,
torn. I. p. 223. L. Bat. 1035.
(3) Strabon. Geog. ubi supra.
(4) Ibid.
72 RETURN TO PATMOS.
chap. wa8 buried by Hercules1 ; and this antient name
*^v^ it retains to the present day8. The Italians, but
more especially the French, have introduced a
number of appellations for the islands of the
Archipelago, which do not exist among the Greeks:
thus Icaria has been often called Naccari ; Cos,
Stanchio; and Crete almost always bears the
name of Candia. Our Casiot mariners, in their
common conversation, called these islands seve-
rally, Icaria, Cos, and Crete ; never using the
words, Naccari, Stanchio, and Candia.
After labouring for several hours, the wind
began to come in squalls from the south-west,
directly contrary to our course for Naxos ; the
sky at the same time lowering, with flashes of
lightning, to windward ; a never-failing indi-
cation of violent gales in these seas. Our Cap-
tain proposed that we should run for the first
port on the western side of Patmos : to this we
gladly consented; and especially because he
declared himself to be well acquainted with the
entrance to a small harbour on that side of the
Port of island. As the daylight began to appear, we
found ourselves close under some very high
(1) Pomp. Mela, ii. cap. 7. PtoUm. 5. cap. 2. Strab. uW supra.
(3) Tournefort made the same observation : * Nicaria n'a pas
change de nom, elle s'appelle Icaria, tout eomme autrefois." Toy. dm
Lev. torn. II. p. 06* Lyon, 1717.
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 73
cliffs, in the face of which appeared a dark chap.
chasm, the narrow mouth of this port. Through w/*s
this passage we entered ; and, having brought
our vessel to anchor, perceived that the harbour
in which we were now stationed was opposite
to that of La Scaler being separated from it
only by a small isthmus. It proved to be a
fine, clear day. The mercury in Fahrenheit*
thermometer stood, at noon, at 75£. Soon after
coming to anchor, the author landed, with a
view of examining the cliffs; as the ports of
the island have the appearance of craters, and
substances resembling lava are common among
the fragments of its rocks. The Monastery of
St. John is situate upon the highest verge of
a crater of this description ; and the harbour of
La Scala owes its origin to another. Perhaps
there is not a spot in the Archipelago with more
of the semblance of a volcanic origin than Patmos.
The cliffs exhibit no form of regular strata, Geological
but one immense bed of a porous black rock, in mwMu
which are numerous nuclei of a white colour,
as large as a pullet's egg, in the form of crosses.
Those crosses are, of course, considered by the
ignorant inhabitants as so many miraculous
apocalyptical types: and it is singular that the
monks have not, as is usual in such cases, some
marvellous tale to relate of their origin. The
74 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap, rock itself, upon a nearer examination, proved
to be a very curious porphyry : the nuclei were
all of them intersecting crystals of feldspar,
imbedded in decomposing trap1. Among the
geological phenomena of the Archipelago, it is
perhaps impossible to point out any that are
more worthy of observation than those which
are exhibited in the cliffs surrounding this
remarkable harbour ; and there has never been
exhibited specimens of porphyry where the crys-
tals of feldspar are in any degree comparable in
size with those which are now mentioned.*
(1) We succeeded in detaching some of those twin crystals, tolerably
entire : their intersection had taken place obliquely in the direction
of their lateral planes, the major diameter of each crystal being
parallel to that of its associate. Owing to this intersection, the
appearance of a cross was exhibited whenever the nuclei, by weathering,
had been worn away transversely, so as to become level with the
superficies of the rock in which they were imbedded. This relative
position and their colour give them some resemblanee to leucite;
differing from leucite, otherwise, in the size and shape of the crystals.
Leucite is, however, so nearly allied to feldspar, that were it not for
the very minute portion of lime which is found in the latter, their
chemical constituents would be nearly the same, and in the same
proportions; and possibly the double cleavage observed by Hauy in
the former, which caused him to bestow upon it the name of amphi-
gene, may be owing to some circumstance of intersection which so
commonly characterizes the crystals of feldspar. At all events, it
may be proposed as a mineralogical query, "Whether, if leucite be
found before it has sustained the action of fire, it do not prove to be a
variety of Adularia ?"
(2) Martin Crusius, in his annotations upon an Epistle of Macarius
(abbot of fatmot) to the Greek Patriarch, in 1579, has cited a work
printed
i
i
ISLAND OF PATMOS. 75
This day, Tuesday, October the thirteenth) we chap.
observed, in a small garden near this harbour, w%s
a Karob-tree (Ceratonia Siliqua) in bloom. A ****•
few shrubs grew among the rock9, but we could
procure no specimens of plants worth collecting
for our herbary. The island abounds in goats, Animals.
rabbits, and partridges. In the evening, we
amused ourselves in fishing, and caught some
red mullets. The harbour appeared as literally
swarming with the most beautiful fishes, of all
colours. We perceived some that were green,
others that were blue, and again others that
were striped. Our sailors taught us to use
small shell-fish for our baits ; and as we lowered
these to the bottom, the water being as clear as
crystal, the fish, tempted from their haunts
among the marine plants that covered the rocks,
were seen distinctly whenever they took the
snare. The Cheeks are very expert fishermen,
and our sailors caught many more than we
could do; they had also a curious method of
luring the fish out of the spiral shells which we
found here, by a continued and gentle tapping
printed at Venice, which states that the island is metalliferous. " La
quale insula, e montuota, et a'i vcne di met alii eopiosa" Vid. Turco-
Greeeia, lib. ir. p. 302. Basil, sine anno.
7$
ISLAND OF PATMOS.
Marble
Cippus.
of the shell with the point of a knife, accom-
panied by a tremulous whistling. We found
several kinds of shell-fish ; and could discern
some large scollops lying upon the rocks beneath
the clear still water, but they were out of our
reach. Very fine spunges might also be gathered
from the same rocks, all around the bay. It
continued calm all the next day. The author
went early on shore, to see if any antiquities
might be found between the two ports ; and
was fortunate enough to discover two Greek
Marbles ; the first of which, a bas-relief with an
inscription, he purchased and brought away. It
was found by a peasant upon a small rocky isle
near to the mouth of the harbour of La Scala.
The sculpture had not much merit ; but any
relic is worthy of notice which exhibits an
example of Grecian sculpture at Patmos, where
no antiquity of this kind has hitherto been dis-
covered. This marble is a sepulchral tablet, or
Cippus, as distinguished from the St&le, and it
is now deposited in the Vestibule of the Uni-
versity Library at Cambridge1. The subject
represented is the Death-bed of " Aristeas
(1) See " Greek AfarbUs," No. XIII. p. 11. Comb. 1800.
ISLAND OF P ATM OS. 77
son of Zosimus." A dog is introduced into the chap.
design, apparently watching for the moment of
dissolution. This figure, denoting the Anubis
of the Egyptians, and Hermes of the Greeks,
commonly appears upon sepulchral monuments,
as a symbol of Mercury the conductor of the
souls of the dead. Beneath the bas-relief is
this inscription :
APICTEAC
ZOUMOY
The other marble was also a cippus, nearly of
the same form, with an inscription almost as
brief as the preceding :
AlOAflp A
XRHZTE
X A I p E
The meaning of the word xa'P* uPon a cippus
will hardly admit of dispute. The Greeks used
it when they drank to each other's health. It
is the common form of salutation, upon almost
every Grecian tombstone. But those who are
curious to learn its various significations, when
used in conversation by the Greeks, may consult
Lucian himself; who, when apprentice to his
uncle, had often employed his chisel in carving
the letters of a word on stone, which he after-
78 ISLAND OF PATMOS.
chap, wards used as the subject of one of his critical
dissertations.1
Departure This being the evening of the sixth day since
dim. our first arrival in Patmos, and perhaps being as
well acquainted with it as if we had spent a
year in its examination, we became impatient to
leave it ; and began to fancy, that as our caique
was hired by the month, its owners would
create as much delay as possible, and loiter in
port when they might safely venture out. Ac-
cordingly, after midnight, having roused the
Captain, we told him that it was a fine night,
and that we wished he would put to sea. This
man was one of the most experienced pilots of
the Archipelago, and as worthy a Greek as ever
navigated these seas ; but we had not at that
time learned to place the confidence in him
which he so highly deserved. He was very
poor ; and having become a widower in an early
period of his life, had suffered his beard to grow,
according to the manner of mourning in his
native Isle of Casos, wearing at the same time a
black turban. Without making any answer to
our proposal, he continued, for the space of a
(l) Vid. Luciani Opera, torn. III. p. 186. "Pro lap$u in Salu-
tando.*9 Edit. Reitz. Bipont. 1790.
r
DEPARTURE FROM PATJfOS. 79
minute, looking up attentively, with his eyes chap.
fixed towards the zenith. Presently he shook v^v-^
his head ; and pointing upwards, with his arm tics of
extended, asked us, How we liked the sky ? mariners.
As it seemed to be very clear, and there were
many stars visible, we replied that there was
every sign of fair weather. " Do yon not see,"
said he, "some small clouds, which now and then
make their appearance, and instantly afterwards
vanish V9 We confessed that we did ; but rather
hastily insisted, that instead of peering after
signs in the sky, he should get the vessel out of
harbour as speedily as possible. His only
comment upon this order, so inconsiderately
given, was a summons to his companions to
heave the anchor, and hoist the sails. We had
barely light enough to steer through the narrow
channel at the entrance, without running against
the rocks; and we had no sooner cleared the
port, than there fell a dead calm. A prodigious
sea, tossing our vessel in all directions, soon
convinced us of the nature of the situation for
which we had exchanged our snug birth but a
few minutes before. Surrounded as we had
been by the lofty cliffs of the island, we had
not the most distant conception of the turbulent
sea we should encounter. Our steady helms-
man endeavoured in vain to keep the prow of
80 DEPARTURE FROM PATMOS.
chap, his vessel to any particular point ; and calling
to our interpreter, bade him notice what he
termed, in Greek, "the belching of the deep" This
happens during the roll of a calm, when a wave,
lifted to a great height, suddenly subsides, with
a deep and hollow sound, like air bursting
through a narrow channel. Our apprehensions
has already got the better of our indifference to
such observations ; and in a very different tone
of voice from that in which we had ordered him
out of port, we asked the Captain, What that
noise denoted ? He calmly replied, that it was.
generally considered as a bad omen ; but that
he more disliked the appearance which he had
desired us to notice before we left the harbour.
Being by this time heartily sick of our usurped
authority, we begged that he would be guided
in future by the dictates of his own experience ;
and, further, requested that he would put back
into port. This he affirmed to be impossible;
that he would not venture towards a lee-shore
during the night for any consideration. We
prepared therefore to suffer, as we had deserved,
for our extreme folly and rashness, and, strange
as it may seem, not without many an anxious
thought for the antient Manuscripts we had on
board. . The crew lighted a wax taper before a "
small picture of some Saint in the foreship ; all
DEPARTURE FROM PATMOS. 81
the after-part of the hold being occupied by our chap.
cots and baggage* Here, when we endeavoured
to lie down for rest, we were over-run by
swarms of stinking cock-roaches1 : we remained
therefore sitting upon some planks that we had
placed to serve as a floor, with our heads touch-
ing the roof which the deck afforded, sustaining
the violent motion of the vessel, and anxiously
expecting the coming of the morning.
(1) Blatta Obiutuis. Linn. The modern Greets call it Katsa-
rida. According to Sonmni, they consecrate, the festival of St.
Oregmy to these disgusting and troublesome insects. Trav. in Greece,
p. 186. Zonrf. 1801.
VOL. VI.
CHAP. II.
PATH09 TO PAROS.
Gale of wind — Vessel driven to the South of
Nazos — Panormo — Independent Shepherds —
Appearance of the island — Minerals — Naxian
Boccaze — Town of Naxos — Manuscripts — In-
habitants— Population — Antiquities — Inscry>-
tions —Sculpture — Medals — Gems — Colossal
Statue —Temple of Bacchus — Other Ruins —
Smeriglio — Arrival at Paros — Parecha —
Castle — Inscriptions — Ship stranded — Anti-
paros — Grotto — its possible origin — mode of
descent — description of the interior — Nature of
the Stalactites — manner of their deposition —
PATMOS TO PAROS. 83
Paradoxical Phenomena — Crystallization of
Alabaster — Arragonite — Visit of the French
Ambassador — Oliaros — Antient Quarries of
Parian Marble — Marpessus — Cause of the
prevalence of Parian Marble in Grecian Sculp-
ture— Marvellous skill of the Antients in work-
ing the Quarries— Bas-relief —Explanation of
the Inscription — Origin of the work — Evidence
it affords — Theory of Crystallization.
For some time after leaving the port, we chap.
endeavoured, by hoisting canvas, to avail our- v^v^*
selves of the short gusts of land-wind that came
from the east during the calm ; a heavy and
unsteady sea rolling. Afterwards, a light breeze
prevailing from that quarter, we were enabled
to stand over to Icaiia ; where we were entirely
becalmed : and the usual alarm taking place, as
to pirates upon the coast, we hauled off with
our oars. Towards morning, a fresh wind y^jf
sprung from the north-west, accompanied by
flashes of lightning ; and we directed the prow
of our caique towards Naxos. As the sun rose,
the sky bore a very angry aspect ; the horizon
being of the deepest crimson, interspersed with
dark clouds. We soon perceived that the pre-
diction made by the Casiot master of our vessel
would be fulfilled, and that we should encounter
g 2
84 PATMOS TO PAROS.
a storm. The high land of Icaria sheltered us
until we got farther towards the south-west ; when
the gale freshened, and came upon us with such
violence, that we could not keep our course.
All our endeavours to beat to windward, so as
to weather the northern point of Nazos, and
bear down the strait between that island and
Parosy were ineffectual : we fell fast to leeward ;
and getting among some rocks upon the eastern
side of Naxos9 the foresail was carried away.
The first notice that we received of this accident,
came with a wave, which broke over the caique,
and almost filled our birth : it was fortunate that
those upon deck were not washed overboard.
We made our way up as well as we could, ex-
pecting every iustant that something more serious
would happen. The waves ran mountains high,
and the caique would not answer to her helm.
During the delay caused by getting the foresail
repaired, we shipped water continually; and
being obliged to take the gale in poop, such a
sea followed us, that there was reason to fear, if
the mainsail gave way, the vessel would founder.
When matters were somewhat rectified, we
steered for a narrow channel between some high
rocks and the eastern side of the island : it
seemed rather like flying than sailing : our little
caique ran over the curling tops of the highest
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 85
waves, without shipping any more water. This chap.
was remarked by our undaunted Captain, v^v^/
stationed with his crew at the helm, who
exclaimed, " Let us see one of your frigates in
such a sea as this : there is not one of them
could weather it like my little caique!99 Wev«w*
passed like lightning within a cable's length of the south
some dreadful rocks, over which the sea was """"
dashing as high as our mast head ; until getting
under the lee, to the south of Naxos, we ran the
vessel aground, close to a small creek, upon
some white sand.
Within this creek another small bark had taken
shelter ; the crew of which, seeing our situation,
came to assist our Captain in getting his caique off
the sand, and in hauling her farther up the creek,
in which they happily succeeded. We then cast
anchor, and began to examine the state of our
baggage. Like true shipwrecked mariners, wet
to the skin, and without a dry thread on board,
we opened all our stores upon the rocks, to
expose our clothes in the beams of the sun.
Every article of our linen was completely soaked :
but, to our great joy, the Patmos Manuscripts
had escaped, and were safe. We had put them
into a small, but stout wooden box, in the
stern of the vessel ; and had covered this with
86 ISLAND OF NAX08.
chap, every article of canvas, &c. that could be
collected.
The gale continuing from the same quarter,
and with the force of a hurricane, we were
detained here during this and the following day.
It is surprising for what a length of time, and how
often, the north-west rages in the Archipelago.
It prevails, almost unceasingly, through the
greater part of the year. After sun-set, there is
generally a calm, which is succeeded by light
breezes from the land, especially from mountains
surrounding gulphs : but at sun-rise the north-
Panormo. we8t begins again.1 The little creek in which
our vessel found shelter is called, by the islanders,
the Bay of Panormo ; and there are some insigni-
ficant ruins upon the rocks above it, which they
T , call Panormo Castle*. The only inhabitants we
Indepen* J
dent shep- saw were parties of men leading uninterruptedly
a pastoral life, without paying any lax, either to
(1) Mr. Spenser Smith, brother of Sir Sidney Smith, informed the
author that he was an entire month employed in endeavouring to effect
a passage from Rhodes to Stanehio : the north-west wind prevailed all
the time with such force, that the vessel in which he sailed could not
doable Cape Crio.
(2) Tournefort mentions this little harbour, under the name of
Panormo. ( Voy. du Levant, torn. I. p. 248. Lyon, 1717.) None of the
ports of Naxot are proper for the reception of large vessels, and there-
fore it is that Tavemier says the island has no ports.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 87
the island or to the Turkish Government: we chap.
found them tending their sheep and goats in this ^JJJ;
wild part of Naxos, like a race of primeval shep-
herds3. They brought us some sheep soon
after our arrival ; descending the rocks with
their bare feet, and wearing apon their legs the
cothurnus, in its most antient form, made of the
undressed skins of their goats, with the hair on
the outside. Whence they came, or who they
were, we could not learn; for they said they
had little connection with any of the villages of
the island, nor any settled place of residence ;
that they had neither wives nor houses ; sleep-
ing at night behind some bush in the open air,
and labouring merely for subsistence, without a
thought of riches. They had all the same kind
of clothing : it consisted of a woollen jacket,
and short trowsers, of their own manufacture,
(3) According to Herodotus, the most antient Inhabitants of Naxot
were a nee of Ionian*. Aristotle relates, that the most wealthy of
them lived in the town, and that the rest were scattered about, among
the villages, In different parts of the island. A very antient Inscription
fond near the base of Zia (AIA), the principal mountain, which is
preserved by Span and by Tournefori, will prove that the pastures of
Nazos had invited shepherds m a very early age. It consists only of
three words, OPOS A 10 2 MBAQ2I0Y, " Mountain of Jupiter, Guar-
Am of Flock*" The title of Shepherd, as applied to the Deity, is of
great antiquity. It is often found in the Scripture. " Givr bar, O thou
8BTFHBBD OF ISRAEL !" (Ptalm lxXZ. 1.) u THB LORD 18 MI
SlIFHBBB— - HB MAKBTH MB TO LIB DOW* TR GREEN PASTURES :
U LIADETH MB BBSXDB THB STILL WATERS." Psaim Xxlii. 1, 2.
88
ISLAND OF NAXOS.
CH\i*' partly concealing the cothurnus of goat's hair
upon their legs. They cover their head with a
red scull-cap, which is manufactured at Venice1.
Reckoning their goats and sheep together, these
independent shepherds have five or six hundred
animals in each flock. They shear their sheep
twice a year ; putting the rams to the ewes in
May, and removing them when the latter begin
to lamb. They speak the modern Greek language ;
and perhaps recruit their numbers from the race
of Albanians which is scattered over all Greece.
They told us that they made three or four
(1) This part of the modern Greek and Albanian drew is the moat
antient : it may be observed upon a bas-relief of the highest anti-
quity, near to Orchomenos in JBeeotia: it is still worn throughout
Albania, and among all the Grecian Isles, as it was by their ancestors,
and by the Byzantine Emperors. It is common also to the Turk*,
from the Grand Signior to the meanest slave, who wear it beneath the
tarban ; and the portrait of Manuel Palceologus (exhibiting this eap
with the addition only of ornamental gems about it) which was en-
graven as a Vignette to the First Chapter of our Third Volume, 8vo.
edition, was placed there expressly to shew, that the Turks, in their
domestic habits (when it is sometimes usual for them, as destitute of
ceremony, to take off their turban), exhibit a costume precisely corre-
sponding with the appearance presented by that portrait. Persons
who have never seen the Turks, excepting upon occasions of ceremony,
when their heads are covered by high calpacks and by turbans, and
who do not therefore remark the antient and common covering for the
head which is below these, will not perceive any resemblance between
the figure of a modern Sultan and the portrait of Manuel PaUtologus;
although nothing can be more striking; for they have the same
characteristic aquiline features, the same length of visage and of
beard, and the same covering of the crown on the head*
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 89
hundred piastres annually, out of a flock of five chap.
hundred sheep and goats : and this sum they s^v^/
spend in the few necessaries or indulgences
they may require. We killed and dressed one
of their sheep: the mutton had a very bad
flavour.
The island has no port on its eastern side : it Appearance
is there mountainous, but the soil is bleak and island.
barren. The rocks in this part of it consist of
alternate strata of schistus and limestone. We
noticed a stratum of primary limestone, sur-
mounted by schistus ; and above that was a layer
of a soft kind of Cipolino marble, striped blue
and white. The next day, October the six-
teenth, we landed to collect plants, and to
examine the traces of buildings, above this little
bay ; which may be called Panormo Creek, for
it merits no higher consideration. We found
the remains of walls, built above precipices, in
which cement had been used ; and noticed a
door, with a small room that had once been
stuccoed. In a rude chapel, which the shep-
herds had constructed of loose stones, we ob-
served a fragment of antique marble ; but, upon
the whole, these works had much more the
appearance of buildings hastily constructed by
pirates than by any people acquainted with
i
92 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap. Naxos is situate in an opposite part of the island,
towards the north-west : the author has ever since
regretted that his rough treatment at sea en-
tirely banished from his recollection all thought
of this important part of the natural history of
Naxos; and he has the more regretted his
inattention to it, as we are entirely ignorant of
the geological position, association, and matrix of
emery. Since the celebrated Tennant has dis-
covered its relationship to corundum1, inde-
pendently of its importance in a commercial
view, and of its connection with antient history,
it is peculiarly entitled to notice. The matrix
of the corundum of the Carnatic is a stone of a
peculiar nature, resembling the Naxian marble8.
The crystals of corundum are dispersed in it in
the same manner as those of feldspar are dis-
posed in porphyry3. The author has succeeded
in obtaining, by the accidental fracture of the
compact emery of Naxos, as regular an hexagonal
form as that which may be noticed in the
(1) See the Communication read to the Royal Society, July 1. 1809,
on the Composition of Emery, by Smith ton Tennant, F.R.S.
(2) " It is similar/' says the Count de Bournon, " to the kind of
marble known by the name of Coarse-grained Saline Marble," (See
Bournon on the Corundum Stone, p. 50. Lond. 1802.) This descrip-
tion answers to the marble of Naxos.
(3) See Bournon, &c. as above.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 93
corundum of the Mysore : nor is it unreasonable chap.
to infer, as a probability, that Telesia, or perfect !I"
corundum, under the forms exhibited by the
Oriental sapphire and Oriental ruby ,may be found
by future travellers in the mines of emery at
Naxos. Tournefort relates, that, in his time,
those mines were situate at the bottom of a valley,
beyond a place called Perato, in the territory of
the French Consul ; but that the inhabitants find
emery as they plough the earth, and carry it
down to the sea coast, where the English often
ballast their ships with it ; and it was so cheap,
that twenty-eight hundred weight of it might be
purchased for a crown4. Dapper says, that a
cape on the north-west side of the island takes
its name from this stone5. Almost all the emery
of commerce comes from Naxos. The island
has been celebrated for ages in being the pecu-
liar deposit of this remarkable mineral. Pliny,
in the description he has given of a green stone,
which the Antients called topaz y says it was the
only gem that admitted the impression of a file ;
that all other gems were polished by means of
(4) Tovrnef. Voy. da Levant, torn. I. p. 263. Lyon, 1717.
(5) Capo Smerigiio; the Italians calling emery, Smeriglio, or Smerillo,
8«e Dapper, Isles de V Archipel. p. 350. Amst. 1703.
94 ISLAND OF NAX09.
chap, the grinding-stones ofNaxos1: and, in a preceding
v#^ part of his work, he speaks of Naxium as used
in polishing marble and gems*. The shepherds
told us that wild honey is found in great abun-
dance in this island : the children set oat in
parties to collect it, as in the other islands of
the Archipelago. From the rocks above Panormo
Creek, we had a fine view of the great cluster of
islands laying towards the south-east.
On Saturday, October the seventeenth, at sun-
rise, we got under weigh, with a light breeze
from the north-west, and steered for the south
Naxian 0f the boccaze, or strait, between this island
Boccaze J
and Paros. In passing up the channel, we
were obliged to use our oars; but by ten
o'clock a. m. we came to anchor in the port,
close to the town of Naxos, having nearly com-
pleted the tour of the whole island. We found
only a few boats in the harbour. The Greek
sailors still preserve the custom, mentioned by
Homer, of hauling their vessels on the shore,
(1) " Badem sola nobiliura limam tenth : casters' Naxiis cotibo*
poliuntur." Plin. Hist. Nat, lib. xxxrii. c. 8. torn III. p. 644. L, Bat.
1858.
(2) " Signis & marmore poliendis, gemmisque etiam scalpendis atqoe
limandis Naxium din placuit ante alia.*' Ibid. lib. xxxri. c. 7. torn.
III. p. 478.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 95
with the prows resting on the beach ; having chap.
done this, they place the mast lengthwise across w^v
the prow and the poop, and spread the sail over
it, so as to form a tent; then beneath these
tents they sing their songs, drinking wine freely,
and accompanying their voicrs with the lyre or
three-stringed viol : Such a concert greeted our
arrival. Being told that a Latin archbishop
resided in the place, we paid him a visit. The
town makes a neat appearance from the harbour, Town or
hot has altogether the character of an antient Naxo$-
Greek city when it is entered ; the streets being
irregular, deep, narrow, and dirty. We found
upon the mart, near the shore, large heaps of
the moat enormous green citrons we had ever
seen, ready to be removed on board some boats
waiting to convey this kind of freightage to Con-
stantinople. They are valued principally for
their very thick rind, of which a green sweet-
meat is prepared: but we could hardly have
credited an account of the size to which this
fruit here attains. Some of these citrons were
as large as a man's head, and of the most
I singular forms ; consisting almost wholly of the
! rind, with very little juice in any of them. The
archbishop received us very politely, and pre-
[ pared a dinner for us ; but we begged to make
| the best use of our time, and therefore declined
i
96 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, his invitation. By his kindness we were admit-
U\^ ted to the churches, which have the privilege
scripts.
of being furnished with bells, as at Patmos. A
Greek priest, in answer to our inquiry for Manu-
Mana- scripts, produced from beneath an altar, lying
upon the damp pavement of one of the sanc-
tuaries, a quarto Codex of selections from the
Gospels, written upon vellum for the ude of
the Greek Church : this, as usual, had been
condemned as soon as a printed copy had
supplied its place. We easily contrived to
purchase it; and afterwards obtained, for a
small sum, by means of the same priest, a
similar Manuscript, apparently of the same age,
from one of the Greek families in the place1. In
this manner, antient copies of the Gospels may
be procured in the Archipelago, by persons who
will be at the pains to seek for them; as,
in our own country, the rarest English editions
of the Scriptures may be found in counties at a
distance from the metropolis ; where they have
either been banished from the churches to
make way for more modern Bibles, or laid up
in the vestry ; or in store-rooms, as waste paper,
in private families, being too antiquated and
(1) These are the same Manuscripts mentioned by Professor Gaitford,
Not. 47, 48. p. 100. of his Catalogue. Oxon. 1812.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 97
inelegant in their appearance for the taste of the chap.
owners*.
tantn.
The want of a proper port for large shipping
has saved Naxos from many a visit on the part
of the Turks. We were told that not a single
Moslem could be found in the whole island, and
that many of the inhabitants of the interior had i"i"*bi-
never seen a Turk : but they sometimes experi-
ence the honour of a call from their masters, en
passant ; and then, " upon the arrival of the
meanest commander of a galliot," says Tourne-
forf, " neither Latins nor Greeks ever d*re
appear but in red caps, like the common galley-
slaves, humbling themselves before the pettiest
officer." As soon as the Turks have left them,
nothing is to be heard but tables of their genea-
logy ; some deducing their origin from the
Paleologi, or from the Comnenii ; others from the
noblest Venetian families4. The island was for
three hundred years the residence of princes
appointed by the Venetians as Dukes of the
(2) The author has teen discarded old black-Utter Bibles in the chests
•f amatory churches ; and once found a copy of MiUt CooerdaU's
Kited translation of the Scriptures in the hands of a Welsh hoti*e-
beper, who was preparing to ube it in covering preserves.
\3) Tounuf. Voy. du Levant, Lett. V. torn. 1. p. 2.^7. Lyon, 1717.
(4) Ibid.
VOL. VI. II
\
P
98 ISLAND OF NAX06.
chap. Archipelago; from the beginning of the thir-
teenth century, when the Emperor Henry gave
this title to Marco Sanudo, until the expulsion
by the Turks, under Selim the Second, of Gia-
como Crispo, the twenty-first and last duke. It is
owing to this circumstance that the Venetian
costume still exists among the Latin ladies.
That of the Greek women is very remarkable ;
but it has been already described and accurately
represented in Tournefort's Travels1. We were
unable to resist the hospitable importunity with
which some of the inhabitants invited us into
their dwellings ; and might have sacrificed the
whole of our time in going from house to house,
to be regaled with lemonade and sweetmeats.
Some of the ladies were very anxious to be
informed how the women of our island passed
their time ; and whether the rich dresses of the
Naxian women accorded with the habits of
English females of distinction. We told them
that English ladies of elevated rank aimed only
at simplicity in their dress ; that, in our com-
mercial country, wealth was very often on the
side of low birth ; and, consequently, that
expensive dresses and costly ornaments, so far
from being the distinguishing characteristics of
(1) Tournef. Voy. du Levant, Lett V. torn. I. p. 828.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 99
high breeding, were generally considered as chap.
• ii
marks of vulgarity ; that the wives and daugh-
ters of our nobility wore the plainest, and gene-
rally the cheapest, apparel. Still, their curiosity
was not satisfied ; they wished we would tell
them of what materials their dresses consisted ;
and whether any thing of the kind could be had
at Malta, or Constantinople ; and in the evident
desire which they betrayed of imitating the
London mode, we were amused in thinking what
sort of a metamorphosis would be effected by
the arrival of an English lady of rank at
Naxos : what discarding of brocade, and coloured
velvet, and embroidered vests, for British
muslin and stuffs ; what scrambling for a few
pieces of crape and cambric, if such merchan-
dize should arrive in the midst of the revolution ;
how all the old family wardrobes, which had
been handed down in form and substance from
the Ju&tinianis, the Grimaldis, and the Summa-
ripaf, would give place to the simplest English
costume. As we had a variety of other busi-
ness to claim our attention, during the short
stay we intended to make, we put an end to a
chain of inquiries that redoubled after every
answer, by promising to send all the latest
(2) S«e Tournrfort, ibid. p. 857.
H 2
100 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, modes, by the earliest opportunity, either from
Paris or London.
Popuia- The population has not been altered since
Naxos was visited by Tournefort : that of the
whole island, including the women, may be esti-
mated at eighteen thousand persons : about
three thousand of this number are Latins, and
the rest are Greeks. During war, they pay
forty purses as a tax to the Turkish Govern-
ment, each purse being equivalent to five hun-
dred piastres. In the time of peace very little
impost is levied. Their wine maintains its pris-
tine celebrity, and we thought it excellent. The
Latin families live together in the castle, or
fortress, separated from the Greeks, not only
by situation, but by numberless petty feuds and
jealousies. We found fragments of a red por-
phyry here, much resembling lava. In the
evening, it rained, which was quite a novel
spectacle to us at that time. The archbishop
had again prepared his table for us ; and, as we
had refused his dinner, we went to sup with
him. He had also provided beds, and every
other necessary convenience for our accommo-
dation ; but as the impossibility of making any
adequate return for such civilities is often a
painful reflection upon these occasions, we
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 101
determined to rough it out, as usual, in our chap.
caique. The Greek houses of every description, v^w
it is true, swarm with vermin ; but we could
not pique ourselves upon the superiority of our
accommodation on board, even in this respect,
from the swarms of cock-roaches by which we
were infested : and some rats, the athletes of
their kind, during the last night that we remained
in Panormo Bay,* actually carried off, not only
the author's book of plants, filled with speci-
mens, but also a weighty Turkish poignard, tied
up within it, used for the double purpose of
digging roots, and as a weapon of defence.
Early the next day we landed, to seek for Antiqni-
some remains of the antient city, which wasUe0'
nearly in the situation of the modern town.
The antiquities of Naxos relate almost exclu-
sively to the worship of Bacchus. The inhabi-
tants are still much addicted to drinking, and
every medal and gem of the island prove how
prevalent the rites of Bacchus once were. This
god is represented bearded upon all the Naxian
coins and signets. We obtained several, which
we shall presently describe. Below the window
of a house belonging to the Chancellor of Naxos,
we found an Inscription, upon the capital of a ]£££*'
column, of an order in architecture unknown to
Qfl. It was discovered by a monk, who was
J 02 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, digging for building materials among the remains
of the antient city : he found . the shaft of the
column near to it, and a small antique lamp of
terra cotta. The pillar itself was, in all proba-
bility, a sepulchral stete. The inscription is
hardly worth preserving, as it only contains a
few names ; but one is unwilling to neglect the
preservation of any Grecian relic, and espe-
cially where few are found.
XA'HTOZKAI
HPOAOYKAIZE
AEYKOYKriOAXP
OY
AIOTENOY
KA1
AMMXINIOY
npoKAGinpo
KAOYKAIAAE
ZANApOYKAl
znziMOY
ZY
We were afterwards shewn, upon the top of a
house below the walls of the fortress, a small
slab, rather of Parian than of Naxian marble
(the grain being finer than in the latter), con-
taining an inscription of great antiquity : the
letters were small ; and they were exceedingly
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 103
well cut, like some of the inscriptions which have chap.
been found in Troas, of the age of the Seleucidce,
The names of Aristotle, Socrates, Theocritus, and
Alexander, inscribed upon the same marble,
somewhat excited our curiosity ; but, after all
we do not find a single fact stated in this in-
scription : it consists only of a list of names ;
and many of these are lost, owing to the injury
the stone has sustained.
ETlirYMNAZIAPXOYAnO
KAIYDOrYM . . OYZEKA . . . GZ . . . .
vnEiNorrovAnoAAO . • . toy....h*hb . . .
ZINOlAPtZTOTEAHZAPIZTOTEAOYZ . . ♦ANOZZHZ
♦ANOAlKOZZnZTPATOY.N|KAlOZM...TOY0EOrZI.
ZQXUHOYnOAAO • • • APXlAPXOY . . . ZlAEfiZ^lAOl- •
noriAlOXApEAAlOrXKP . . $1 . NAXEHZNEOTERO
EYTYXOZp . . . NAlOYflY . . t\. . . MAKYAP1ZTOAHN
eEOKAElAOYNEMEK. . tTOE. • • • HZTOZflEPlTO
eEO+lAOZeEOKAEl MX1NNIKHPATOZ
IcrHZl^XlNTOZ EMfiNNlKAlOY
KAEflNY noYHMEPOZ
AHMHTPIOI . HPAZ ZlNOI . AYAOZ
KAlAlKlO^ArA . OAOZ • • KAElAOYZftZANAPOZ
N I KANAPOYNIKANAPOZNIKANAPOYAHMHTPIOZ
EniNlKOYMAKOZnOAAl<*ZMAPKeYAEKMeZ
AYvlAIO£ZnOP|OYZHKPATHZNlKlOY
8EOKpiTOZeEdKplTOYAYAOZZOA^lKlOZ
AYAOYAAEZANApOZApTEMnNOZAEYKlOZ
XESTlAlOZZnOPlOYTPY^nNXAPMl
AOY. .Y .. HPETHIAPTEMHN
104 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap. \ye COpied this inscription with difficulty, being
^s*-' frequently interrupted by the exorbitant de-
mands of the woman to whom the house be-
longed. She positively refused to sell the
marble, having a • superstitious notion that it
prevented evil spirits from coming to her dwell-
ing : after insisting upon a payment of thirty
piastres for a sight of it, she allowed us to copy
it for a hundred paras, but not without continual
interruption, and the most clamorous entreaty
for more money.
sculpture. We had suftcient employment afterwards,
among many valuable antiquities. Every frag*
ment of the antient sculpture of Naxos denoted
the most splendid sera of the art : but Bacchus
was all in all. The fragment of a marble bust
of the God, crowned with vine leaves, was
shewn to us, of the most perfect sculpture ; but
the price set upon every thing proved our ap-
proximation to western countries, and that the
intercourse between this island and Italy
had taught them how to appreciate the works
of Grecian artists. An antient weight had
been dug up, of an oblong square form, with
its handle, neatly cut in marble ; this we brought
away : it weighs exactly four pounds, seven
ounces and a half. A Greek had recently dis-
covered a vessel of terra cotta} containing some
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 105
small bronze coins of Naxos, of the finest die, chap.
exhibiting the head of the bearded Bacchus in ^^
front, and a diota on the reverse, with the Medlli-
legend NASII2N : we bought ten of these. The
author had also the good fortune to procure a
silver medal of the island, of such uncommon
rarity, that it is believed there is not a dupli-
cate of it in any collection in Europe. It has on
the front a bearded head of Bacchus ; and for
reverse, the diota, with the letters N A. It is
wonderful, considering the wealth and popula-
tion which the testimony of Herodotus proves
the Island of Naxos to have possessed, that its
coins should be so scarce, and generally so
paltry : while those of its Sicilian colony, so
much less noticed in history, are by no means
uncommon ; and for size and workmanship, the
latter are among the finest examples of art
extant.
Visiting, as usual, the working silversmiths, Gems.
we found among them several gems. The first
was a carnelian with the figure of a goat, a
symbol of Bacchus : the second, which we could
not obtain, represented a whole-length figure
of the God, reeling, decorated with vine-leaves
and grapes, and followed by a dog ; he held a
thyrsus in one hand, and a diota in the other
106 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, turned bottom upwards, as a proof that he had
emptied the contents of the vase. Upon
another gem, which we were also unable to pur-
chase, we observed an altar, supporting a bust
of Bacchus crowned with vine-leaves, in a
very singular attitude, with its mouth open, as
if making a libation of the effects of intoxica-
tion : around it appeared the letters of his
name, YODYNOIA, written, in very antient
characters, from right to left. At the house of
the Chancellor, from whom we experienced the
most hospitable attention, we saw the hand of
an antient statue, executed in the best style of
Grecian sculpture, and certainly not inferior to
any thing yet discovered. Also, near to his
house, the torso and bust of a military figure,
with a robe over the shoulder, of the most
exquisite workmanship. The sculpture of the
island appeared to be generally of the sort of
marble called Parian, whether found in Paros or
in Naxos ; and the remains of works in archi-
tecture to have been executed in the splendid,
broader-grained, and sparry marble, which is
more peculiar to the Naxian quarries : but
neither the one nor the other exhibited the
smallest appearance of that false lustre and
glittering surface which has sometimes, and
very improperly, been supposed to characterize
ISLAND OF NAX06. 107
works of art executed in the marble of these
islands1. Age had given to all a warm and
beautiful tint of a yellow colour : and, to the
eye, every fragment seemed to possess the
softness and consistency of wax or of alabaster.
The Chancellor told us, that in the interior of %%£?
the island, at the distance of three hours from
the town, near to some antient marble quarries,
there yet remains an unfinished colossal statue,
as he said, of Apollo, but evidently of Bacchus,
with a bearded countenance, sixteen feet in
length*. A public fountain near to the town
is still considered by the inhabitants as thb
fountain of Ariadne, and it is called by that
name. Some traces of antient works, which
may yet be discerned near to this fountain, shew
that it has long been held in more than usual
consideration.
Being unable to undertake a journey into the Temple of
interior, we next visited the ruins of a temple
(])"LemarbreGreeest agros grains crystalling qui font de faux
jours, et qui sautent par petit eclats, si on ne le menage arec. soin."
Tmtnuf. Voy. du Lev. Lett. V. torn. I. p. 341. Lyon, 1717.
(S) Mr. Hamilton, author of ^Egyptiaca, with his companions, after-
wards Titited Naxos, and saw this statue of Bacchus. It is of such
taormou size, that Mr. Hamilton's party spread a cloth upon the
beard, and made it senre as their table for breakfest.
J 08 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, of Bacchus, upon an insular rock on the north
I,# side of the port The portal of this temple has
been long famous, and an account of it is given
in every book of travels where Naxos is men-
tioned. It is asserted, that the isle was once
connected with Naxos by means of a bridge
and an aqueduct ': the author of the " Voyage
Pittoresque de la Gr&ce" says that its vestiges
are yet visible1: we did not observe them,
when we were upon the spot.. It is an error
to suppose, as many have affirmed, that nothing
remains of the temple but this portal, although
it be true that little else can be seen. Consi-
dering the pains that have been lately bestowed
by many of our English travellers in making
excavations in different parts of Greecef it is
rather extraordinary that no person has been
induced to lay open the site of this remarkable
building, where there are no Turks to interfere
with the workmen, and where there is almost
a certainty of reward for their trouble. For
our part, we had not the means of carrying on
such works ; but we uncovered a part of the
soil, and discovered a beautiful capital of a
Doric pillar, thereby ascertaining the order of
(l) Voy. Pittor. torn. 1. p. 43. Park, 1782.
ISLAND OF NAXOS. 109
architecture observed in the building. We
were struck with admiration at the massive
structure and the simple grandeur of that part
of the temple which still remains standing: it
consists of three pieces only of the Naxian
marble, two being placed upright, and one laid
across. Below these are large square masses,
which belonged to the threshold ; and this con-
sisted of three pieces only8. The view through
this portal, of the town of Naxos with its port,
and part of the island, is very fine. We en-
deavoured, by a sketch made upon the spot, to
preserve a memorial of the scene ; and it has
been since rendered more perfect, without
interfering with the fidelity of the representa-
tion.9. The mountain seen to the left is pro-
bably AIA, now called Zia, whence the island
was formerly named. We brought away some
large specimens of the marble, which lies in
(2) Tournefort ascertained the dimensions of the portal: according
to him, (see tarn. I. Lett. V. a Lyon, 1717.) it is eighteen feet high, and
eleven feet three inches broad ; the lintel is four feet thick ; the two
■plights are four feet thick, and three feet and a half broad. All the
parte, he says, were cramped with copper ; for he found small pieces of
that metal among the ruins.
(3 J See the Plate in the Third Quarto Volume of these Travels, p. 308
from a Drawing by Mr. H. Wright, of Magdalen College, Cambridge.
110 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, fragments near the portal : it is so much softer
v^v^/ and more lam i nary than the Parian, that the
difference between the two kinds is easily to be
recognised by fracture. It is singular that no
account of a building of such magnificence
should be preserved in any author. Ptolemy,
as it is observed by Tournefort, seems to men-
tion an ancient city upon which it is probable
that the modern town of Naxos is built1 : but
no allusion to this small isle and its temple
occurs in any antient description of Greece,
notwithstanding all that has been said of Naxos,
by Herodotus, by Appian, and by other writers.
From this isle we returned to conclude our
researches in Naxos.
other The citadel was constructed under Marco
Ruins. Sanudo, the first duke of the Archipelago ; and
the antient palace of his successors was the
large square tower which is now remaining
within this circular fortress9. Near to a small
chapel beneath its walls, we found a cippus,
representing two female figures, in bas-relief.
There is not a house in the town that has not
(1) Nagov Nq?ov t) w6\iq. PtoU Geog. lib. Hi. cap, 16.
(2) Tournef. Voy. du Lev. torn. I. Lett. V. Lyon, 1717.
ISLAND OF NAX08. , Hi
some relic of this kind near to it ; and similar chap.
ii.
remains in the interior are very common. The
inhabitants told us, that there are two places
where rains and inscriptions are found ; the one
called ApoUonoriy and the other a village which
bears the name of Philotes. They spoke of ruins
at two hours distance from Naxos, towards the
cast, and offered to conduct us thither : but the
journey would have detained us another day ;
and we were afraid of loitering, at this season
of the year, with such a vessel as ours, upon a
doubtful speculation; and therefore refused to
go. Nothing happened to us more extraordi-
nary than oar almost unaccountable neglect in
not visiting the emery mines : this arose partly,
as has been stated, from the alarm into which
we had been thrown upon our first coming to the
island, which made us forget to inquire after
them ; and also, in some degree, from not
rightly comprehending the meaning of the
term smerigUo, when the exports were stated to Smengiw.
us : we would willingly have bartered the time
which we spent in copying, and in procuring
permission to copy, an imperfect and unin-
telligible inscription, for the opportunity of
making a few observations upon the Naxian
corundum, of which they have two varieties,
112 ISLAND OF NAXOS.
chap, very different in their qualities1. They find, also,
abundance of marcasite, or sulphuret of iron : this
(1) The lots has been more than supplied, by a valuable communica-
tion from Mr. Hawkins upon the Geology of Naxos, in the following
Extract from hb Manuscript Journal.
" Naxia,
" The largest of the Cyclades, and the most circular.
" Frequent but not dYep indentations of the coast, and therefore no
harbours.
" The longest diameter of the island, according to the Russian
Chart, is about eighteen miles, its breath about twelve, and its two
farthest extremities point n. n.e. and s.s.w.
" This, too, is the direction of a mountainous ridge extending from
coast to coast, and running through the centre of the island.
" The whole district eastward of this ridge is mountainous, sloping
towards the shore, and furrowed with deep narrow vales.
" Mountains and wide intervening vales or plains compose the
district which lies westward.
'* These mountains dip gradually towards the southern shore, but
terminate abruptly on the north and the north-east.
" On the western extremity of this bold line of coast is seated the town
of Naxia, which overlooks a plain of considerable extent, that appears
to have been gained from the sea by the alluvial depositions of the
largest river in the island.
" In the centre of the island lies the broad fertile vale of Trimalia
(ApcpaXia) ; the boundary of which, on the east, is the main ridge of
mountains already described, and of which the highest eminence is
denominated Oid, or Jia. Koronos is the name of another peak,
nearly as high, lying at the distauce of Ave miies to the north.
" The high craggy hills which form the eastern boundary of the
plain of Naxia are composed of a species of gneiss, resembling that of
Miconi and Delos ; the foliaceous texture which usually distinguishes
this genus of primitive rock being here scarcely perceptible.
" The mountains which border the plain of Naxia, on the south-east,
are composed of another kind of primitive rock, which extends as far
as
ISLAND OF NAX09. 113
was mentioned to us by the Chancellor, but chap.
we were not told what use they made of it.
as the eastern shore of the island, and forms its central ridge, as well as
the whole of its interior.
" This rock is a compound mats of mica wd feldspar, of a floe folla-
ceous grain, corresponding with that which I fonnd near Marathon.
It divides into large slabs : small veins of feldspar frequently occurred
in the transverse fissures of the rock ; and the feldspar sometimes con-
tained the AmpkiboU Actinote aciculaire of Hauy and Brogniart.
" I observed that the strata on the west of the Yale of Trinialia dipped
regularly in an angle of 40o to the w. and by if. and H. w. by the com-
pass, and that, near the village of Potamia, they alternated with beds
of the large-grained white primary marble, which varied in thickuess,
W4RB six to ten feet Advancing eastward, the mountain which divides
Potamia from the Vale of Trimalia presents the same rock entire $
bat here the laminm were of a waving form, and the rock was not In-
tersected by Assure*. On the eastern side, however, of the same
mountain, as I descended into the Vale of Trimalia, I observed that the
strata re-assumed their straight slsty texture ; bat here they dipped in
• contrary direction, L e. to the east, under the same angle.
" Soon after this, recommenced alternate beds of the same primitive
samrble as I observed before, which now became more frequent, and
continued through the whole tract over which I passed, as far as the
eastern coast of the island ; presenting, eastward of the mountain of
Jia, and the village of Aperathi, a greater breadth even than the beds
of the micaceous rock ; the average thickness of these beds amounting
so 40 or SO feet, and occurring sometimes of 100. The grain of the mar-
ble was here finer ; and although the strata preserved the same degree
of inclination to the horizon, yet their line of bearing was somewhat
different, their dip being here b. and by x.
"Fragments of emery occurred plentifully in the Vale of Trimalia;
and I observed black horn-$laie, in thin beds, in the micaceous strata
west of Aperathi* Near Xapct, in the Vale of Trimalia, I found rose-
coloured quartz.
" The best emery is found at Triangatho, a deep narrow vale, one
boor and a half distant, east, from Aperathi; and one hour from the
sea-shore. (t To
VOL. VI. I
II.
114 ISLAND OF PAROS.
II.
chap. Formerly it was employed in the manufacture of
ear-rings and bracelets in England ; and buttons
are yet made of it in Birmingham, which have,
for a short time, almost the lustre of real bril-
liants.
Arrival at At eight o'clock a. m. October the nineteenth,
we found our vessel entering the harbour of
Naussa1, at the northern extremity of the Isle
" To ascertain all the circumstance* under which it occurs, was the
principal object of any excursion hither ; and the following is the result
of my observations : —
" The emery occurs, in scattered fragments, over the whole surface of
this district, but more abundantly in the bed of the winter torrent
which runs through the Vale of Triaxgaiho. I remarked, that tho
fragments were largest, where they were fewest, on the upper slopes of
the hills ; and that they diminished in size, and augmented in number,
as they occurred lower down.
** The proximity of these fragments to the micaceous strata, their
lamellous form and granular mass, together with the frequent admix-
ture of mica, indicated their native bed to have been originally in that
rock. No search, however, had been made by digging; a sufficient
quantity for the annual consumption of Europe being collected, without
difficulty, on the surface. The whole expense, therefore, is that which
is occasioned by the transport of the emery to the water-side.
" Three caiques, or Greek barks, load here annually for Smyrna ; from
whence, in the year 1787, 107 tons of emery-stones were exported to
England.
" The best sort of emery, as I have already observed, is found at
Triangatho z a sort less esteemed, at Agam, three hours and a half,
south, from the town oTNaxia ; and at Leona, on the north coast."
\ Hawkins* MS. Journal.
\ (1) See the Vignette to this chapter. This must be the Porto Ausa
oT Dapper. (Descript. dee Isles de V Archipel. p. 261. Amst. 1703.J
Tournefort
\
ISLAND OF PAROS. 115
of Paras ; having availed ourselves of the land chap.
breeze, in the night, to leave Nazos. This is the n^vW
principal port for large vessels ; but as our
object was to get to Parechia, the chief town, ****«***-
we ordered our men to bear down the western
side of the island. This island is surrounded
by harbours; and that of Nazism alone is said to
be capable of containing a hundred vessels.
Tournefort mentions Naurn, or Agousa {torn. I. Lett, V. p. 241.
M**m, 1717) : and an author who accompanied Mons. de Nointel, during
hit Voyage in the Archipelago in 1073, write* it Agota (L'Etat present
de VArchipel de Monsieur M. D. L. Cologne, 1678. p. 57.) " Hapoc *x*
KavToaivOyKWxuoaiiia. 1 . napqcta, iirtwosraro. 2. KfyaXog* ntoroo.
S-'AfoVra. Ins. Paros habet castra duo, et unam clvitatem.
1. Parikiam, epitcopatom. 2. Kephalon, castrum. 3. August am.**
(Vid. Martini Crusii Annotations in Epistolas Doc to rum, p. 207.
Turcooretciee. Basil, sine anno.) Sonnini calls it Nausea. (Trav. in
Greece, p. 454. Lortd. 1801.) These particulars are noted, because
Parse may hereafter excite the notice of our Government. It was in
this port that the Russians established the depot of their forces, when
they promised to restore liberty to Greece, and became the scourge of
the inhabitants; desolating the finest works of antiquity, wherever
they went. There is no harbour in Greece better calculated for a
national establishment. Fleets may lie there in perfect safety, and in
the very centre of the Archipelago. The Turks make no use of Paros
themselves : and, viewed only with regard to the abundance of its
valuable marble, it ought to be considered as an island of importance
ts> a nation vain of its distinction in the Fine Arts. A very fine Chart
of this harbour has been engraved in the Voyage Pittoresque de la
Greet, with all the sounding?, &c. as it was surveyed by Kauffer in
1776 ; shewing the situation of the Russian magazines and fortifications.
See PI. xxxi. p. 70. torn 1 . Paris, 1 782.
I 2
116 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap. A contrary wind soon after met us ; m
v^vW consequence of which we landed, and walked
about three miles; meeting, in the 6rst Greek we
saw, a proof of that hospitality which is so com-
mon in the Archipelago. He was the owner of a
house in Paros to which he invited us ; saying
that bis son should be our guide to the marble
quarries, and that he would shew us all the
antiquities in the neighbourhood. We accom-
panied him ; and made a hearty meal upon
salted olives, grapes, boiled pumpkins, and
Parian wine. Our boat did not arrive until ten
at night. Parechia is a wretched relic of the
antient and famous Paros. Every building in
the place, but particularly the Castle, bears
some evidence of its pristine splendour, and of the
havoc that has ensued.
October the twentieth, the Waiwode of Paros%
who is a native of Tenos sent as Governor to
collect the taxes, but not constantly resident,
came to visit us, and offered to shew to us the
Castle. Castle. In the walls of this building we saw
some columns which had been placed horizon-
tally among the materials used in building it ;
and their butt-ends, sticking out, were singu-
larly inscribed with the letter A, placed close to
ISLAND OP PAROS. 117
the cavity intended for the reception of the iron chap.
instrument called by modern architects the
Louis1 ; either as a mark by which to adjust the
several parts of the shaft, or as a curious
method of preserving the initial of the archi-
tect's name ; so that it could not be seen until
the building became a ruin. An instance of a
similar nature occurred at Tebnessus, where the
name of Hermolycus had been carefully inscribed,
bnt in such a manner as to be concealed from
observation when the building was entire : this
letter may therefore possibly relate to Amphi-
lochus, " the glory of whose art/' in an inscrip-
tion found at Shodef, was said " to reach to
the mouths of the Nile, and to the utmost Indus."
The entrance to the interior is of very singular
form, being as wide as one entire side of the
Castle. It is truly lamentable to view the
wreck of beautiful sculpture, visible not only in
the construction of this fortress, but all over the
town of Parechia, the wretched remnant of a
city famous for the birth of Phidias and of
(1) TLe name of this dove-tailed instrument is in general use
among architects; bat it if not found in any English Dictionary. Its
origin Is rtrj ascertain : the French call the same instrument Loutb.
Ptraen, in bis third volume of the " Magnificema di Bomkf men-
tions having Jband stones in antient buildings in which there were
cavities for aa instrument of this dove-tailed shape.
(*) See Vol. III. of these Travels, Chap. VIII. p. 884. Octavo
edition.
116
ISLAND OF PAROS.
CHAP.
II.
Inscrip-
tion*.
Praxiteles. We copied part of an inscription yet
existing in the Castle wall :
AHPHZAIANE9HKEN
APXfiNTOc MEN
Also, near a windmill, we found inscribed,
" Niciratus son of Alcsus :"
NIKHpATOZ
AA KAIOY
It may be said, perhaps, that these inscriptions
are hardly worth preserving ; but instances
have occurred in which even such scraps have
not been without utility, in adding to the gene-
ral stock of literature. We afterwards found
an Inscription of greater length : it was in the
left-hand door-way of the Chapel of St. Nicholas,
in the Church of St. ITelen, the stone being
placed in an inverted position. It states that
" The son of Theocles, who had conducted
HIMSELF WELL IN THE OFFICE OF AgORANOMOS,
TWICE, IS CROWNED WITH A GOLDEN CROWN."
The legend requires a little restoration, which is
here marked by dotted letters.
hboyahkaioahmozetimhzen
KAlErrE+ANOZENXPYXXlZTE+ANn
NftNTOPYTeNeEOKAEOYZArO
PANOMHZANTAAIZKAAfiZKAl
AlKAinZKATATOYZNOMOYZKAl
KATATOKOINONnAZIZYM*EPON
ISLAND OF PAROS. 119
In a wall of the court we observed a Lecti- chap.
sternium, in bas-relief; but it had been white-
washed, and this made it difficult to copy an
inscription upon the marble. In one part of
the stone there appeared, in small characters :
Y0BT02AA8ANAP0Y
IP0M0IPQ2E8IQ2A2
Below this were some figures in a reclining
posture ; and then followed, in larger letters :
XflXAPMOY nAPAl
EniKAIEZ + QIMENO
EITAPKAiriAYPAZEn
AZIOXAINEIX0AI
OP+ANAMENMOPAIT
KEIZenriAIZIXPON
The four last lines in this inscription were evi-
dently in metre, as we may judge from the
beginning of each :
Ei yap Kai navpag
vA£ioc alvBiaOai
'Op^ava fiiv - - - -
KtiaOk) iraial \pov - -
Similar imperfect remains may be observed
in all parts of the town, which have been used
for building materials, and generally white-
washed. Near the house of the Imperial Con-
sul, facing the street, we saw this inscription in
f
120 ISLAND OF PAROS
chap, the wall: u Dionysius, son of Euschemon,
FAREWELL l"
AIONYCIOC
EYCXHMONOC
XPHCTEXAIPE
Two forms of the Sigma are observable in this
inscription. That the C and Z were used pro-
miscuously in very antient times, has been fre-
quently shewn. The C was of the highest
antiquity, and certainly in use prior to the sera
of the 6rst Punic War1. The c appears on
coins and marbles of very antient date8. Some-
what farther on, in another street, we found
an inscription relating to "a daughter of
AOATHEMERIS '"
ZaCA PIN..OriA--A--
eYTATHPAe
ATA0H M€PI AOC
It is impossible to assign any date to these
inscriptions; in which not less than three dif-
ferent forms of a single letter may be observed :
but this want of uniformity is no proof of the
age of the writing.
(1) Torremuzza Inacript. di Palermo, p. 237.
(2) See P*ciandi'$ ObeerraUont on Medals, bearing the legend
C ASIAN and OPeXlCIEfiN Man. PHI. 84.
ISLAND OF PAROS. 121
This day, as the Governor offered to accom- c*j*R
pany us to see the famous Grotto of Antiparos, *****
and as our host had prepared mules and guides
for the expedition, we set off at eight a.m. and
rode by the side of a mountain, through corn-
fields, until we came to the narrowest part of
die channel, between Paros and Antiparos.
Paras seemed to be in a higher state of cultiva-
tion than Naxos. The island produces excellent
oil, and abundance of wine. Its ripe olives are
highly esteemed by the natives as an article of
food, after being salted for one day : this sort
of diet has been often deemed, by inconsiderate
English travellers in Italy and Greece, very hard
fare for the poor inhabitants; but it is one of
their greatest luxuries ; and we became as fond
of it as the people everywhere seem to be from
one extremity of the Mediterranean to the other.
As soon as we reached the shore from which ship
we were to pass over to Antiparos, we observed 8
a large Turkish merchant ship, laden with soap,
and bound from Crete to Constantinople, stranded
in the middle of the strait. The master of the
vessel, without any compass, and with the usual
fatality attending his countrymen in their sea
voyages, had relied upon an ignorant pilot, who
had persuaded him that this was the greater
boceaze between Naxos and Paros, and the ship
122 ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS.
chap, in consequence was driven upon the shallows.
We went on board ; and found the master
squatted within his cabin, smoking, and listen-
ing to a duet performed by two of his crew
upon a drum and a lyre, while the rest were
gone in search of people to assist in hauling the
vessel off the rocks. Nothing could exceed his
perfect Moslem indifference ; for although it
seemed to be doubtful whether his vessel would
ever move again, or, if she did, whether she
would not go to the bottom in consequence of
the damage she had sustained, he would not
stir from the seat where he had remained from
the moment the accident happened.
BOS.
antipa- We landed upon the barren island of Anti-
paros, and were conducted by the Governor to a
small village ; here we found a few inhabitants,
who were described to us as the casual legacies
of different vessels, and principally Maltese,
taken by corsairs, and left on shore to shift for
themselves. Some of them provided us with
mules, ropes, and candles for the grotto, which
is situate near the summit of the highest
mountain of Antiparos, in the south part of the
island. As we rode along, our beasts were ter-
rified by the attacks of the gad-fly, an insect
which infests every one of the Cyclades. Having
ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS. 123
reached the top of the mountain before men- chap.
tioned, we came to the mouth of this most v^v^/
prodigious cavern, which may be described as Grott0,
the greatest natural curiosity of its kind in the
known world. The entrance to it exhibits
nothing very remarkable : it is beautifully repre-
sented in the Voyage Pittoresque of De Choiseul
Gmffierx ; but no book of travels ever did or
ercr can pourtray the beauties of the interior.
As to its origin, it may possibly have resulted iu poMi-
fiom the dislocation of an entire stratum ; and e g ""
this is rendered probable by the oblique direc-
tion of the cavity, and the parallel inclination of
its sides. The rock immediately above it con-
m
sists of the following substances. The upper
surface or summit of the mountain is a stratum
of limestone, inclined very considerably from
the horizon : beneath this is a layer of schistus,
containing the sort of marble called Cipolino,
that is to say, a mixture of schistus and marble :
then occurs the cavity which forms the grotto,
parallel to the dipping inclination of the supe-
rior strata ; and this cavity was once probably
occupied by another stratum, succeeding in
regular order to the superincumbent schistus :
but this is mere hypothesis ; and any traveller
(1) See Plate xjocvi. p. 72. torn. I. Par. 1782.
124 ISLAND OF ANTIPAR08.
chap. who enters the grotto will soon perceive, that
v*v^» all the theories he may form have been set at
nought by Nature, in the darksome wonders of
Mode of her subterraneous laboratory. The mode of
cent descent is by ropes, which, on the different
declivities, are either held by the natives, or
they are joined to a cable which is fastened at
the entrance, around a stalactite pillar. In this
manner we were conducted, first down one
declivity, and then down another, until we
entered the spacious chambers of this truly
Descrip- enchanted grotto. Having visited the stalactite
tion of the °
interior, caverns of the Gulph of Salernum upon the
coast of Italy, those of Terni, and many others,
the author expected to find something similar
here ; but there is nothing which resembles this
grotto. The roof, the floor, the sides of a whole
series of magnificent caverns, are entirely
invested with a dazzling incrustation, as white
as snow. Columns, some of which were five-
and-twenty feet in length, pended in fine icicle
forms above our heads : fortunately, some of
them are so far above the reach of the nume-
rous travellers who, during many ages, have
visited this place, that no one has been able
to injure or to remove them. Others extend
from the roof to the floor, with diameters equal
to that of the mast of a first-rate ship of the
ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS. 125
fine. The incrustations of the floor, caused chap.
by falling-drops from the stalactites above, have
grown up into dendritic and vegetable forms,
which first suggested to Tournefort the strange
notion of bis having here discovered the vege-
tation of stones. Vegetation itself has been
considered as a species of crystallization1; and
as the process of crystallization is so surpris-
ingly manifested by several phenomena in this
grotto, some analogy may, perhaps, be allowed
to exist between the plant and the stone ; but it
cannot be said that a principle of life existing in
the former has been imparted to the latter.
The last chamber into which we descended
surprised us more by the grandeur of its
exhibition than any other ; and this seems to
have been the same which Tournefort intended
to represent by the wretched view of it given
in his work*. Probably there are many other
chambers below this, yet unexplored, for no
attempt has been made to penetrate farther3 :
(I) See Pairin, Hist. Nat. torn. III. pp. 130, 140. Par. An 9.
Lametktrie, &c. &c.
(3) Voyage du Levant, torn. I. p. 227. a Lyon, 1717. A better
idea of It may be formed by seeiog the beautiful Plate engraved by
TUIiard, from a drawing of the interior by Hilair, in the Voyage
Piitoretque, torn. I. p. 74. Paris, 1782.
(9) Tournefort mentions an opening of this kind : " A cdte de cette
tour ee voit un trou par ou Ton entre dans one autre caterne, inais
personne n'osa y descendre." Voy. du Lev. torn, I. p. 231.
126 ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS.
chap, and if this be true, the new caverns, when
ii.
v^v"W opened, would appear in perfect splendour,
unsullied, in any part of them, by the smoke of
torches, or by the hands of intruders ; for
although, in the general whiteness of the grotto,
as it now appears, the partial injuries its beauty
has sustained be not at first perceived, there are
proofs that, in the course of time, by the in-
creased frequency of the visits paid to it, and
the damage caused by breaking the stalactites
to remove as curiosities, the splendid effect
produced by the whole must be diminished.
After this general description, it will now be
proper to give a more philosophical detail of
our observations upon its natural history.
Nature of The substance itself which is thus deposited
the Stalac- • 111 1 • ••
tUet. is purely alabaster ; that is to say, it is a con-
cretion of carbonated lime which was employed
by the Antients in the manufacture of their
unguentary vases1 ; and it is distinguished by
(1) "THERE CAMS UNTO HIM A WOMAN HAYING AN ALABABTBB
box of vert pRBCious ointment." Mattheio xxvi. 7. — The author
found among the mint of the city of Sais, in Egypt, the fragment of
one of the unguentary vases of the Antients : it consists of white car-
bonated alabaster, Pliny says, that the best alabaster was of the
colour of honey, and that it was a defect in the stone to be white and
translucid. The alabaster of Antiparos is of a honey colour, like to that
which comes to us from Gibraltar in a manufactured state.
J
ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS. 127
its chemical constituents from the alabaster of chap.
modern times, or yypsum> which is a sulphat of ^^^
lime. The formation of the carbonated alabaster
by the stalactite process, is now so well known,
that its explanation may be comprehended in
very few words. Nothing is more common
than the presence of carbonic acid in water : and
when a superabundance of this acid is present,
the fluid is capable of sustaining, in solution, a
portion of lime carbonate ; but upon the slightest
agitation, or division, or exposure to atmo-
spheric air, or change of temperature, the car-
bonic acid makes its escape, and the fluid, thus
losing its solvent power, necessarily lets fall
the Hme. All this is very simple, and very
easily comprehended. The paradox remains Paradoii-
now to be stated : it is this ; that these enor- nomenon.
moos stalactites, thus formed during a series of
ages, by the slow and gradual deposition of lime-
water ; filtering drop by drop from the roof of
the cavern, offer concentric layers only towards
their superficies ; their interior structure exhi-
biting a completed crystallization, which sepa-
rates, by fracture, into semi-transparent rhombs,
as perfectly formed as if they had resulted from
a simultaneous instead of a continuous process.
Almost every mineralogist may have noticed a
rhomboidal termination of the small translucid
128 ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS.
chap, stalactites which are found at Castleton in Derby-
ii • •
>^v^ shire ; and there the operation has been carried
on in water, a globule of which has remained
constantly suspended at the point of each sta-
lactite: but in this grotto, crystallization has
been the result of a modification sustained
by the whole interior of a mass of alabaster,
subsequently to its original deposition. That
the cavern has neither been filled with water,
nor with any other fluid than atmospheric air,
is very evident, by the formation of the stalac-
tites, which could not otherwise have existed as
they now appear. Every thing belonging to
them, and to this cavern, will tend to perplex
and to confound the naturalist ; and many proofs
of this are yet to follow. In the different
cavities, and between the interstices of the
stalactites, we had the satisfaction to discover,
what no one had hitherto noticed, — the crys-
Crystalli- TALLIZATION OF ALABASTER, in distinct groups
Alabaster, of large rhoinbo'idal primary crystals, upon the
exterior surface of the several concretions : and
that these crystals were gradually accumulating
in size, until they met together and constituted
one entire mass, was evident, because, upon
a diligent examination of all parts of the grotto,
we found, that where the stalactites were small,
and in an incipient state, the crystals upon
ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS. 129
their surface were exceedingly minute: where chap.
they were large, the crystals were also large,
some of them exceeding two inches in diameter.
Another surprising fact is, that, although the
outer crust of these crystals be opaque, and
similar to the exterior incrustation of the con-
cretions themselves, the crystals, when broken,
are each, and all of them, integral parts of the
stalactite upon which they have been formed.
We carefully detached a great variety of speci-
mens, to illustrate and to confirm these obser-
vations : and although the Waiwode who accom-
panied us, like a child craving the toy which
amuses another, insisted upon having the finest
specimen, under the pretext of presenting it
to his ignorant patron the Capudan Pasha, we
had the good fortune to bring many of these
specimens to England, and to the University of
Cambridge, where they have been annually
exhibited during the Mineralogical Lectures.
It was in that University, when the author was
engaged in shewing them to the lamented
Tetmant, Professor of Chemistry there, that
the Professor noticed among the stalactites one
which was remarkably distinguished from the
rest, by its fascicular structure, by its supe-
rior hardness, and by the appearance of rays
diverging from a common centre towards the
VOL. VI. K
30 ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS.
chap, circumference1. Its fracture is not rhomboidal :
^»*»' and its dispersion into a powder, by heat, exhibits
the mouldering appearance of arragonite ; and not
the decrepitation of such particles of carbonated
lime as contain water, of which specific nature
are the generality of the stalactites in this grotto.
From all these circumstances, Professor Tennant
ArragoHiu. had no doubt of its being arragonite, and in
the stalactite form, which had never before
been noticed. Indeed, the mineral itself has
been considered so rare, that were it not for the
attention shewn to it in consequence of its
being the only anomaly in Hatiy's theory of
crystallization, very little of its chemical history
would be known ; nor can there be a greater
inducement now offered to naturalists to visit
the Grotto of Antiparos, than the discovery thus
made of a new locality of this curious sub-
stance. Another singular circumstance in the
nature of the grotto is, that the incisions made
by persons who have formerly inscribed their
names in the alabaster^ have been filled up by a
natural process ; and the letters, so marked, have
since protruded, in relief, from the surface of the
(1) A similar formation was noticed by Touaif bfort : " Distingmet
par six circles concentriques, dotU Us fibres vont du centre & la cvrccm-
ference." (Vojr. da Lev. torn. I. p. 228. Lyon, 1717.) It is remark-
able that the same writer denies the dropping of water in the grotto—
" II iw tombe pat one stale goutte <Feau dans ce lieu," Ibid.
ISLAND OF ANTIPAROS. 131
stone ; which has hitherto received no explana* ' c?.Ap'
tion. Some Greek inscriptions, near the entrance, wv^
prove that the grotto was visited in a very early
period. One of them, which Tournefort has
preserved very entire, mentions, that a number
of persons, whose names are subscribed, " came
thither during the administration of Chiton."
In the present copy, the dotted letters have
been supplied from that author*.
Em
KPITX1NOZ
Ol A EH AGON
MENANAPOI
ZOXAPMOZ
MENEKPATMZ
ANTIF1ATPOZ
innOMEAfiN
ApiZTEAZ
♦ IAEAZ
roproz
AIOTENHZ
♦ IAOKPATHI
ONEZIMOZ
Monsieur De Nointel, French ambassador to Sj'J^j^
Constantinople, seems to have flattered himself A0"bMM-
that he was the first person who had ever
(t)Voj*$eda Levant, LettereV. torn. I. p. SSfi. Lfm, 1717.
K 2
132 ISLAND OF ANTIPAROfl.
chap, ventured into this cavern.1 During Christmas, in
the year 1673, he caused mass to be celebrated
in the grotto, at midnight; remaining here
three entire days, accompanied by upwards of
five hundred persons. ; The cavern was then
illuminated by four hundred lamps, and one
hundred large wax flambeaus ; the elevation of
the host was accompanied by the music of
trumpets, hautboys, fifes, and violins, as well as
by the discharge of artillery placed at the
entrance of the cavern. Two Latin inscriptions
yet record this subterraneous solemnity, which
may be considered as ascertaining the epocha
of the first visit paid to the grotto in modern
times. In the words which the Ambassador
caused to be inscribed upon the base of the
stalagmite which supplied him ' With an altar for
the occasion, we have a striking example of the
Roman-Catholic faith, as to the miraculous
presence of the Messiah in the consecrated
wafer :
HIC * IPSE * CHRISTVS
ADFVIT * EJVS # NATALI # DIE ' MEDIA • NOCTE
CELEBRATO * MDCLXXIII
(1) " Monsieur le Marquis de Nointel, ayant entendu dire, qull
y a?oit dans l'autre isle roisine, nominee Antiparoi, one grotto o&
personne n'osoit entrer, y voulut descendre la Teille de Noel. Je
m'offiris a l'y accompagner," &e. VEtat present de VArcMpel, de
M<ms.M.D.L. i Cologne, 1678. p. 66. Premier* Partio.
RETURN TO PAROS. 133
The channel between the two islands is not chap.
more than a mile wide : but it is two leagues v^v^/
from the port of Antiparos to that of Paros. It
was this distance which convinced Tournefort
that Antiparos is the island called OHaros, or ouam.
Qlearos, by the Antients. We returned to Paros
highly gratified by our very interesting expedi-
tion, and carefully packed the specimens we had
collected*
Wednesday, October the twenty-first. This day Antient
we set out upon mules, for the antient quarries of Parian
of the famous Parian marble, which are situate "
about a league to the east of the town, upon
the summit of a mountain, nearly corresponding
in altitude with the situation of the Grotto of
Antiparos. The son of our host, a young mar-
ried man, accompanied us. We rode through
several olive plantations in pur ascent : the fruit
of these trees was the sole topic of conversation
with our worthy guide, who spoke of a ripe
olive as the most delicious dainty which Heaven
had vouchsafed to man upon earth ; giving him
greater strength, vigour, and agility, than any
other kind of food. " Oh I" said he, smacking
his lips, "how we feast at my father's, when
olives first come into season." The mountain
in which the quarries are situate, now called
134 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap. Capressoy is believed1 to have been the Mar-
ii •
V^v^/ pessus mentioned by Serving and by Stephanus
Morpeuus. Byzantinuf : there are two of those quarries.
When we arrived at the first, we found, in the
mouth of the quarry, heaps of fragments de-
tached from the interior : they were tinged,
by long exposure to the air, with a reddish
ochreous hue ; but, upon being broken, exhibited
the glittering sparry fracture which often charac-
terizes the remains of Grecian sculpture : and in
this we instantly recognized the beautiful marble
which is generally named, by way of distinction,
the Parian ; although the same kind of marble be
also found in Thasof ; and it is remarkable that
the inhabitants of Thasos were a Parian colony s#
The marble of Naxos only differs from the Thasian
and Parian in exhibiting a more advanced state
of crystallization. The peculiar excellence of
(1) See Toumefori (Voy. du Lev. tarn. I. p. 839. Lyon, 1717.) and
the following authorities by him cited.
(2) " Marpbsos mons est Pari* insula)." Servuu in JEneid. yi.
(3) MAPIIE22A 6pog Drfpov if? oi oi Xi9oi IZalpovrai. Stephanus
Byzantinus. L. Bat. 1094.
(4) For this remark the author is Indebted to Mr. Hawkins, the
publication of whose Travels in Greece has long been anxiously expected,
by all who know the Industry of his researches and the superior accu-
racy of his observations.
(5)'Yir6 \tik UapUtv IktujOij edwg. Strabon. Geog. lib. x.p. 711.
Oxon. 1807.
ISLAND OP PAROS. 135
the Parian is extolled by Strabo6 ; and it pos- chap.
some valuable qualities unknown even to
the Antients, who spoke so highly in its praise7.
These qualities are, that of hardening by ex-
posure to atmospheric air (which, however, is
common to all homogeneous limestone), and the the Pier*.
consequent property of resisting decomposition HaH^u
through a series of ages, — and this, rather than ^
the supposed preference given to the Parian 8cu|Pture-
marble by the Antients, may be considered as
the cause of its prevalence among the remains
of Grecian sculpture. That the Parian marble
was highly and deservedly extolled by the
Romans, has been already shewn : but in a very
early period, when the Arts had attained their
fall splendour in the age of Pericles, the pre-
ference was given by the Greeks, not to the
marble of Paros, but to that of Mount Pentelicus ;
because it was whiter ; and also, perhaps, be-
cause it was found in the immediate vicinity of
Athens. The Parthenon was built entirely of
Pcntelican marble. Many of the Athenian sta-
tues, and of the works carried on near to Athens
daring the administration of Pericles, (as, for
(6)'£yfi ryllofy 19 Uapia Xi9oe Xtyopivri, Apiffrti irp&g rfiy pap-
MfcyXwfiav. Ibid.
(7) "Pakos, cam oppido, ab Delo xxxtiii mill, marmore nobills;
qmm prima Pactiak (MS. Plate am), poatea Minoida Tocarunt,"
PttL N*. Hist, lib. if. c. 12. X. Bat. 1 636. torn. I. p. 223.
136 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap, example, the Temple of Ceres at EleusiSj) were
executed in the marble of PenteUcus. But the
finest Grecian sculpture which has been pre-
served to the present time is generally of Parian
marble. The MedicSan Venus, the Behidere
Apollo, the Antinous, and many other celebrated
works, are of Parian marble ; notwithstanding
the preference which was so early bestowed
upon the PenteUcan: and this is easily ex-
plained. While the works executed in Parian
marble retain, with all the delicate softness of
wax, the mild lustre even of their original
polish, those which were finished in PenteUcan
marble have been decomposed, and sometimes
exhibit a surface as earthy and as rude as com-
mon limestone. This is principally owing to
veins of extraneous substances which intersect
the PenteUcan quarries, and which appear more
or less in all the works ex ecuted in this kind of
marble. The fracture of PenteUcan marble is
sometimes splintery, and partakes of the foliated
texture of the schistus which traverses it ; con-
sequently, it has a tendency to exfoliate, like
cipolvtOy by spontaneous decomposition.
We descended into the quarry, whence not a
single block of marble has been removed since
the island fell into the hands of the Turks : and
perhaps it was abandoned long before; as
ISLAND OF PAROS. 137
might be conjectured from the ochreous colour chap.
by which all the exterior surface of the marble w-v^
is now invested. We seemed, therefore, to
view the grotto exactly in the state in which it
had been left by the Antients : all the cavities, Marvellous
. . . J . _ ' Skill of the
cut with the greatest nicety, shewed to us, by Antients
the sharpness of their edges, the number and ing the
the size of all the masses of Parian marble which
had been removed for the sculptors of Antient
Greece. If the stone had possessed the soft-
ness of potter's clay, and had been cut by wires,
it could not have been separated with greater
nicety, evenness, and economy. The most
evident care was everywhere displayed that
there should be no waste of this precious
marble: the larger squares and parallelograms
corresponded, as a mathematician would ex-
press it, by a series of equimultiples with the
smaller, in such a manner that the remains
of the entire vein of marble, by its dipping
inclination, resembled the degrees or seats of
a theatre. It was impossible to view such a
source of materials which had exercised the
genius of the best Grecian sculptors, without
fancying that we could ascertain the different
works for which the several masses had been
removed. "Here," said we, "were slabs for
metopes and triglyphs; there, were blocks for
altars and Doric capitals ; here was an Apollo ;
138 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap, there, a Venus; that larger cavity may have
v^v*w supplied a mass for a Laocoon ; from this place
they perhaps removed a soros; the columns
taken hence had evidently divided shafts > there
being no cavity of sufficient length to admit the
removal of entire pillars" These and similar
observations continually escaped us : but who
shall explain the method used by the Antients
in hewing, with such marvellous precision, and
with such apparent ease, the interior of this
quarry, so as neither to leave one casual frac-
ture, nor anywhere to waste its produce ? They
had very little knowledge of machinery ; but
human labour was then of little value, and the
most surprising works may always be referred
to ages when this was easily obtained.
We quitted the larger quarry, and visited
another somewhat less elevated. Here, as if
the Antients had resolved to mark for posterity
the scene of their labours, we observed an
Bis-reiief. an^ent bas -relief upon the rock. It is the same
which Tournefort describes1 ; although he erred
in stating the subject of it. It is a more curious
relic than is commonly supposed. The French
had twice endeavoured to remove it, by sawing
the marble behind ; but perceiving that it would
(1) Voy. da Lev. torn. I. p. 239. h Lyon, 1717.
I9LAND OF PAROS. 139
separate into two parts if they persisted, owing ci*ap.
to a fissure in the stone, they had the good V^v%/
taste to abandon the undertaking. It repre-
sents, in three departments, a festival of Silenus,
mistaken by Tournefort for Bacchus. The demigod
is figured, in the upper part of it, as a corpulent
drunkard, with ass's ears, accompanied by
laughing satyrs and dancing girls. A female
figure is represented sitting, with a fox sleeping
in her lap. A warrior is also introduced, wear-
ing a Phrygian bonnet. There are twenty-nine
figures ; and below is this inscription :
AAAMAI
OAPYZHZ
NYM+AIZ
which may be thus rendered into English* ; ^JJ^
" ADAMAS ODRYSES TO THE NYMPHS." ttoJT*'
(1) Towrmfort, in his remarks upon this inscription, maintains, from
Died. Afe. BibHoth. Hist. lib. lii. and from the Adversaria ofBarthius,
thai the word Hvpfatc, applied to the girls of the island, rather than to
thcmfewuUe divinities who were called Nymphm : to which opinion the
r, perhaps, too hastily assented, when. In the first edition, he
the word Nv/tfoic, "To the lasses/' or betrothed maidens.
The words of Barthius are : " Grsdcis intermedia Inter virginem et
sjattsrem rvfifti > V^ eleganter dlseas ex TheoerUo si? e Motchum maris
iseStrmoPA:
*H & wapos Kovpri, Znvof ykvtr* avrixa vi>p+tl9
Kai Kpovity ritva tIkti, col avrUa yivtro prjTtjp."
BarthU Adverser, lib. xxtI. cap. 4. Franco/. 1624,
Bel Vmlckener has the following observation upon the conclusion of the
Eubofa :
140 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap. Chandler, in his Travels in Greeee, describes the
wrv%> Nymphceumnear Vary in Attica ; and gives three
inscriptions1, one of which purports that " Archi-
damus made the Cave for the nymphs." In an-
other inscription, found in the same Cave of the
Nymphs, the latter part, whether designedly or
not, is an Iambic trimeter4. In the Corydan
Cave, the existence of which was discovered
by the author in a subsequent part of these
Travels, although he did not then visit the
place3, some of his friends found an inscription
to Pan and the Nymphs? ; therefore this kind of
dedication was common in Greece. The marble
in both these quarries was excavated by the
origin of, light of lamps ; and to this circumstance Pliny
attributes one of its names, Lychnites5. The
Europa : " Ultimas mibi carminis versos fuisse videtor : *H & irapoc
Kovpij, Zijrfc fiver* abrUa vv/ifVqaiqaeteqaiUirvenashtjiispoematis
eonditore indignns." MOSX T EIAYAAION (F. p. 368. L. Bat. 1781.
(1) See Inscript. Antiq. p. 76.
(2) 4>pa&u<rt No/i^wv Avrpov ilnpynffaro,
(3) See * Tomb of Alexander," p. 158. Comb. 1805.
(4) riavtWrpfatc. The inscription was discovered by Mr. (now Sir
Willkm) QeU. Mr. Raihes found also here a small terracotta
vessel, elegantly formed, which the Antients had left, as a vow, in
the cave.
(5) " Omnes antem candido marmore nsi sunt e Paro insula, qoem
lapidem coBpere Ltchnitew appeHare,qaoniam ad lucernes in cnnieolii
caderetar." Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvl. c. 5. torn. III. p. 468. L. Bat.
1636.
ISLAND OF PAR08. 141
same appellation occurs also in AthenatuP. chap.
• ii«
With 'regard to the image of SUenus, in the has- wvw
relief, it has never been observed that Pliny
mentions it, as a natural curiosity, and one of
the marvels of Antient Greece. The figure of
Silenua was accidentally discovered, as a lusus
Naturce, in splitting the rock ; and, of course,
all the other parts of this piece of sculpture had
been adjusted by Odryses to assist the repre-
sentation, when he dedicated his work to the
Nymphs. Such a method of heightening and
of improving any casual effect of this kind has
been very common in all countries, especially
where the populace are to be deluded by some
supposed prodigy : and thus the cause is ex-
plained why this singular piece of sculpture, so
rudely executed, yet remains as a part of the
natural rock ; whence it would be an act of
worse than Gothic barbarity to remove it " A
wonderful circumstance," says Pliny1, "is re-
lated of the Parian quarries. The mass of entire S^f^
stone being separated by the wedges of the
workmen, there appeared within it an effigy
of Silenus." In the existence of this bas-relief
(6) A£0o£ Av%vf vq. Atken. Deipn. lib. ▼.
(7) " Sed in Pariorun mirabile proditur, gleb& lapidii unius cuneia
dhidenUum tolutik, imaginem 8ilbni intui extititM." Plin. Hist*
Nat. lib. xzxtI. c. 5. torn. III. p. 468. L. Bat. 1635.
142 I8LAND OF PAROS.
chap, as an integral part of the natural rock, and in
the allusion made to it by Pliny, we have
sufficient proof that these were antient quar-
ries1 ; consequently they are the properest
places to resort to for the identical stone
whose colour was considered as pleasing to
the Oodf9 which was used by Praxitelef, and
by other illustrious Grecian sculptors, and cele-
brated for its whiteness by Pindar* and by
(1) This curious bas-relief, together with the entrance to the quarry
which contained it, are represented in the Voyage Pittoresque of Count
de Choiseul Gouffier, (Voyage Pittoresque de la Greee, tome I. p. 68.
Paris, 1782.) bat with more attention to the effect of a beautiful pie-
tore than to accuracy of design. The plates in this magnificent work
are almost equal, in their style of composition, and In their execution,
to the engravings of Audran, from paintings by Xe Brim; and that to
which allusion is now made is faithful in every thing, except in the
detail of this piece of antient sculpture. A reference to the French
work, will, however, serve to shew its situation in the quarry, and
render unnecessary any further attempt at delineation, where the
manner of it must necessarily be so very inferior. The antiquity itself
is the greatest curiosity in the island ; and perhaps, from the circum-
stance which Pliny has mentioned, it will excite the attention of tra-
vellers more than it has hitherto done.
(2) Plato de Leg. torn. II. lib. xii. p. 296.
(3) "Praxitelem Paria vindieat arte lapis" Propertius, lib. ML
Eleg. vii. 16. Also, Quinctilian, lib. ii. 19. " Praxiteles signmm
a&quod e molari lapxde conatus est exsculpere, Parium marmor vellem
rude ;" Sec. See also a curious Treatise of Blasius CaryophUus (vulgo
Biagio Oarafolo, Neapolitanus), entitled " De Antiquit Marmoribus
Opusculum," p. 10. Utrecht, 1743 : and the numerous authors therein
cited.
(2) Vid. Nem. Ode IV. p. 262. Genev. 1626.
EraXav Oiptv Uapiov
AiOov XtvKOripav.
ISLAND OF PABOS. 143
Tkeocrihuf. We collected several specimens : in chap.
breaking them, we observed the same whiteness
and brilliant fracture which characterizes the
marble of Naxos, but with a particular distinc-
tion before mentioned — the Parian marble being
harder, having a closer grain, and a less foliated
texture. Three different stages of crystallization
may be observed, by comparing the three dif-
ferent kinds of marble, dug at Carrara in Italy, in
Paras, and in Naxos ; the Carrara marble being
milk-white6 and less crystalline than the Parian ;
and the Parian whiter7 and less crystallized than
the Naxian : lastly, as a completion of the pro-
cess of crystallization, may be mentioned the
(6) Theocritus (Idyll, vi. 38.) compare* the whiteness of teeth with
Perismmarbie:
— rSnf ii r* 6$6vrw
AtVKoripav aiiyav HooIoq vwifaivt \L9oio.
(8) PHnf/ mentions the superior whiteness of the Carrara marble,
hi comparing it with the Parian. The quarries of Carrara are the
Twrnuian of that author ; Lima being the name of a' city, and
Lsmensis that of a promontory near to the modern Carrara, " Moltis
•ostea eandldioribafl repertis, nuper etiam in Lunensium lapidiclnis.'*
Pa*. Hist. Nat. Kb. ctxyI. e. 5. tarn. III. p. 468. L. Bat. 1635.
• (7) Although the Parian were not the whitest marble known to the
Astieats, at appears by the preceding Note, yet its whiteness was one
of its great celebrity. It is thus described in the Itinerary of
IVSYLA PABOS
IV HAC LAPIS CANDIDIS8IKYS VASCITYR
QYI DICITYR PARIYS.
144 ISLAND OF PAROS.
chap, stalactites; or alabaster, of Antiparos ; in which
v^S^/ the same chemical constituents are perfectly
crystallized ; exhibiting the rhomboidal fracture,
and having the specific gravity of the Iceland
spar ; which, in all probability, is also a stalactite.
Theory of These phenomena oppose striking facts to the
satum. Plutonian theory of the crystallization of carbo-
nated lime by means of heat and pressure : not
that the author wishes to maintain any argu-
ment against the possibility of crystallization by
means of heat, because all that seems necessary
for crystallization is a separation of particles, and
a subsequent retreat. Whether this separation
be effected by solution, or by fusion (which is
only another name for solution) ; and whether
the retreating body be an aqueous fluid or the
fluid matter of heat ; a regularity of structure may
equally become the result : basaltic forms have
been recognised in the bottom of a furnace1, as
well as upon the borders of a lake8. The facts
now adduced are opposed, it is true, to the
Plutonian theory ; because they prove the
(1) A specimen exhibiting a basaltic configuration, as found In the
bottom of an Iron furnace, Is preserred In the Royal Collection at
Stockholm.
(2) Witness the lakes in the Sooth of Sweden; the Lake of
BoUenna in Italy; the Lake of Gennesareth in the Holy Land;
&c. &c.
ISLAND OF PAKOS. 145
crystallization of carbonated lime by an aqueous chap.
process : but they affect this theory only as a
system which generalizes too much from partial
appearances, in explaining the formation of
mineral bodies.
vol. VI. i,
Firit fig/it of Athens.
CHAP. III.
PABOS TO ATHBtfB.
Voyage to Syros — Affecting Interview — Syra —
Plants — Remains of Antient Customs — Gems
and Medals — State of the Island — Voyage to
Gyanis — Hydriots — Wretched Condition of
Jura — Voyage to Zia — Cartheea — Ravages
committed by the Russians — Ruins of Ioulis —
Medals — Hospitality of the Modern Greeks —
Antient Dances — Produce of Zia — Minerals
— The Author sails for Athens — View near
the mouth of the Sinus Saromcus — Suntum
— Temple of Minerva Sunias — Anecdote of
a Naval Officer — Patrocleia — Other Islands
VOYAGE TO SYROS. 147
in the Saronio Gulph — Calaurea — Albanians
— JElimbd — First Sight of Athens — Zoster
Promontory — Doubtful Story of Minerva's
Statue— Arrival at the Piraeeus — Approach to
Athens.
From the quarries of Marpessus we de- chap.
Bcended again to Parechia ; and the next day, ^»v^/
the wind being favourable, although somewhat
boisterous, we embarked, and set sail for Syros, voyage to
now called Syra. Our Captain would have yrot%
steered for Delos : but this island, since the visit
paid to it by the Russians, has been stripped of
all its valuable antiquities ; besides this, the gale
we had encountered between Patmos and Naxos
had somewhat intimidated us ; and as our crazy
old caique was not sea-worthy, we resolved to
run for the most western port in our course
towards the Sinus Saronicus, now called the Gulph
of JEngia, from a modern name of the Island of
jEgina. We saw the Delian Isles, as we passed
with a rapidity known only to the swallows1 of
the Archipelago, and entered the harbour of Syra
in the morning of October the twenty-second.
Our faithful Greek servant, who had travelled
with us as our interpreter ever since we left
(l) This is one of the names given to the boats used for navigating
the Archipelago.
L 2
148 ISLAND OF SYROS.
chap. Petersburg j burst into tears at the sight of a
>^v-i^ small chapel constructed upon a rock in the
port, which he had himself assisted in building
some years before. He described it as the
votive offering of a party of young Greeks to
Affecting their patron Saint : but his feelings experienced
interview. a geverer trjaj when we landed j for in the
person of an old man, established as a wine-
seller upon the quay, he recognised his own
father, of whose fortunes and situation he had
long been ignorant. The islanders bore a part
in the joy of this meeting ; and their national
hospitality was, in consequence, redoubled.
All the young people c^me to express their
congratulations, and a party began the M&tnScaK
Antonio hastened again on board for his balalaika*,
and, joining the festive throng, gave himself up
entirely to singing and dancing for the remainder
of the day and night. Towards evening, we
(1) The RonUca, the most popular of all the dancea of the Modern
Greeks, is faithfully and beautifully represented in the Voyage
PUtoresque de la Greet of Count Be Choiscul Gouffler, from a drawing
by J. B. Hilair, engraved by Martini. See Plate facing p. 68. vol. I.
of that work, Paris, 1782. " The passion of the Greeks for dancing,0
(says Mons. De Guys, vol, I. p. 208. Lond. 1781,) " is common to both
sexes; who neglect every other consideration, when they have an
opportunity of indulging that passion."
(2) The antient guitar of Scythia and Tahiary. See Pari I. of these
Travels, Plate facing p. 244. Second edit. Quarto. Broxbourn, 181 1 ;
exhibiting its use among the Calmuck tribes.
ISLAND OF SYROS. 149
saw him in the midst of a very numerous choir, chap.
inviting us to taste of the wine with which his
father was making libations to all comers.
The town of Syra is built upon the summit of syra.
a lofty hill, so remarkable for its conical form
that it may be compared to a vast sugar-loaf
covered with houses. At the base of this cone
is the quay, where there are several ware-
houses for supplying vessels with the produce of
the island, which is principally wine. There
are some ruins near the port ; and many antient
marbles are said to remain buried behind the
magazines. We met the English Consul soon
after we landed, and accompanied him to his
house in the town ; where we were regaled
with an excellent conserve, highly esteemed by
the Greeks, made of the apples (as they are
called) of a species of Sage, the Salvia pomifera.
these apples are produced in the same manner
as galls upon the oak, and they are owing to
punctures made by a species of Cynips in the
branches of the plant The common Sage of the
Island of Crete has the same excrescences ;
which are there carried to market under the
name of Sage-applet. This conserve is said to
(3) Tournef. Voy. du Lev. torn. I. p. 93. Lyon, 1717.
150 ISLAND OF 8TROS.
chap, possess the healing and salutary quality of Sage
in general : we perceived in it an agreeable
astringent, and somewhat bitter flavour ; but as
almost any vegetable may be used for con-
serves, and the savour is often owing to other
ingredients, very little of this taste might be
owing to the Sage. The plant itself thrives
abundantly upon this island, growing to the
size of a small shrub. Sage leaves are collected
annually by the Greeks, and dried, to be used
medicinally, as an infusion : they are very par-
ticular in the time and manner of collecting
these leaves ; they are gathered on the first of
May, before sun-rise. The flavour and smell
of the Grecian Sage is much more powerful than
in the Salvia officinalis, so common in the English
gardens. We sometimes drank an infusion of
the leaves, instead of tea : it had the effect of
exciting a profuse perspiration, and perhaps
may be useful in those dangerous obstructions
to which perspiration is liable in an Eastern
climate; but it produces languor, and even
faintness, if it be used to excess. In mentioning
Plants, the plants of Syra9 there is one of so much
beauty and rarity, that it ought not to pass
without especial notice : it is called the Tree
Pink, Dianthus Arboreus, and pre-eminently
merits its lofty name of AI02 AN90S. It grows
ISLAND OF 8YROS. 151
also in Seriphos: but Syra is the only place chap.
in all Greece whence we were able to obtain
specimens ; and we did not find these ourselves
upon the island1. Perhaps the season was too
far advanced to observe this beautiful ornament
of the Grecian Isles ; for we were unable to find
many other rarities which have been described
as natives of Syra, although we remained two
days in search of them, particularly the plant
which produces the Persian Manna, mentioned
by Tournefort*, Hedysarum Alhagi. The Dian-
ihus arboreus, both in Syra and in Seriphof,
sprouts out of the crevices of the most rugged
and otherwise barren rocks. It was raised
from seed in the Royal Garden at Paris, in the
time of Tournefort ; " where," says this author4,
44 it has sustained no change by its altered
situation, but maintains the honour* of Greece
(1) We were indebted for them to the kindness of Mr. Dodwell,
vko Tisited Syra, in company with Sir William Oell. The former has
■face distinguished himself by bis indefatigable researches in Greece,
particularly by the attention he has bestowed upon the antient sepul-
Aiw of the country.
(3) Tournefort, Voyage du Levant, torn* II. p. 4. Lyon, 1717. It
» the Alhagi Maurorum of Rauwolf. Sir Qeorge Wheler found it in
Tern*. Manna is found on this plant, in Mesopotamia, and in other
B**tem countries. (See RusseVs Aleppo.) It grows plentifully near
Tmirit.
0) Tournef. ibid. torn. I. p. 210.
W Ibid.
152 ISLAND OF SYROS.
chap, amidst an infinite number of rare plants from
in
v^rw the same country.9' No traveller has yet added
this very uncommon species of Dianthus to the
botanic gardens of our island.
There is no other town or village upon the
island excepting this, which so singularly coven
the sugar-loaf hill above the quay; and the
number of inhabitants does not exceed four
thousand, almost all of whom profess the Catholic
Bfm^t religion : yet there is no part of the Archipelago
cufttoms. where the traveller will find the antient customs
of Greece more purely preserved. Syros was
the original name of the town, as well as of the
island. - Some traces of its ruins still exist near
the port. The modern town of Syra probably
occupies the site of the antient Acropolis. The
island has always been renowned for the advan-
tages it enjoys, in the excellence of its port, in
its salubrity,, and its fertility. It is on this
account extolled by Homer1. It produces 101*4
jigs, cotton, barley, and also wheat, although not
so plentifully as barley. We saw an abundance
of poultry, and a very fine breed of pigs; but the
streets of the town are as dirty and as narrow
as they probably were in the days of Homer. If
( 1 ) .Ety3oro£, « v/iijXof , oivoir\fj6fcf iroXvirvpog. Odyu. O. t. 405.
)
\
ISLAND OF SYROS. 153
the antient Persians have been characteristically chap.
, ., , , J in. i
described as the worshippers of fire, the inhabi-
tants of Syra> both antient and modern, may be
considered as the worshippers of water. The
old fountain, at which the nymphs of the island
assembled in the earliest ages, exists in its ori-
ginal state ; the same rendezvous as it was
formerly, whether of love and gallantry, or of
gossipping and tale-telling. It is near to the
town, and the most limpid water gushes con-
tinually from the solid rock. It is regarded by
the inhabitants with a degree of religious vene-
ration; and they preserve a tradition that the
pilgrims of old time, in their way to Delos,
resorted hither for purification. We visited the
spot in search of an Inscription mentioned by
Tourneforf, but we could not find it ; we saw,
however, a pleasing procession, formed by the
young women of the island, coming with songs,
and carrying their pitchers of water on their
heads, from this fountain. Here they are met
by their lovers, who relieve them from their
bordens, and bear a part in the general chorus.
It is also the scene of their dances, and there-
fore the favourite rendezvous of the youth of
both sexes. The Eleus'mian women practised a
(3) Tomrntf. Voj. du Lev. torn. II. p. 4. Lyo*f 1717.
154 ISLAND OF BYROS.
chap, dance about a well which was called Callichorus,
and their dance was also ac com pan fed by songs
in honour of Ceres. These " Songs of the Well"
are still sung in other parts of Greece as well as
in Syra. De Guys mentions them. He says
that he has seen the young women in Princes
Island, assembled in the evening at a public
well, suddenly strike up a dance, while othere
sung in concert to them1. The Antient Poets
composed verses which were sung by the
people while they drew the water, and were
expressly denominated " Songs of the Well."
Aristotle, as cited by Winkelmann, says the
public wells serve as so many cements to
society, uniting the people in bands of friend-
ship by the social intercourse of dancing so
frequently together around them*. This may
serve to explain the cause of the variety of
beautiful lamps, pitchers, and other vessels of
terra cotta, which have been found at the bottom
of wells in different parts of Greece ; as well as
to direct the attention of travellers towards the
cleansing of dry wells, who are desirous of pro-
curing those valuable antiquities. Among other
antient customs still existing in Syra, the cere-
(1) Letters oo Greece, vol. I. p. 220. LoruL 1781.
(2; Ibid.
ISLAND OF SYROS. 155
monies of the vintage are particularly conspi- chap.
cuous. Before sun-rise, a number of young ww
women are seeing coming towards the town,
covered with the branches and leaves of the
vine; when they are met or accompanied by
their lovers, singing loud songs, and joining in
a circular dance. This is evidently the orbicular
chair1 who sung the Dithyrambi, and danced that
species of song in praise of Bacchus. Thus do
the present inhabitants of these islands exhibit
a faithful portraiture of the manners and cus-
toms of their progenitors: the ceremonies of
Antient Greece have not been swept away by the
revolutions of the country: even the represen-
tations "of the theatre, the favourite exhibitions
of the Attic drama, are yet beheld, as they
existed among the people before they were
removed from the scenes of common life to
become the ornaments of the Grecian stage.
Some very fine gems and medals were shewn Oem9 and
« • Medals.
to us by a native of Syra: but the price he
demanded for them exceeded all moderation.
One of the gems was of high antiquity. It was
an intaglio of red jasper ; the subject, Pegasus,
(3) 'ByrvcXiocxopoc- Sw V* Guys, vol. I. p. 218; and the authors
by him cited.
156 ISLAND OF 8YROS.
chap, with wiugs inflected towards the head, in the
in.
most antient style of the art; a boar was also
introduced, with the singular representation as
of a battering ram projecting from its breast.
Among the medals there were two of silver, in
good preservation. The first was of Chios : it ex-
hibited, in front, a winged sphinx : and for reverse,
the dicta, with this legend, APrEIOXXIOX.
The other was very small, but of extraordinary
beauty ; probably it was of Clazomenm in Ionia,
and possibly of Citium in Cyprus1. The head of
a youthful Deity appeared in front, in very high
relief; and the reverse, equally prominent,
exhibited the image of a ram couched. Among
all the subjects represented upon Grecian
medals, nothing is more rare than the figure of
this very common quadruped. Almost every
other sacred animal may be observed : but the
sheep, so often the object of sacrifice, not only
seldom occurs, but when it has been found
upon an antient medal, it is always upon one of
the highest antiquity, destitute of any legend,
and which generally classes, in numismatic col-
lections, among coins of uncertain or of un-
known origin. The cause of this has not been
explained.
(1) See the Vignette to Chap. II. Vol. IV, of the 8to. edition of
these TrtTelf.
ISLAND OF SYROS. 157
The minerals of Syra are rather remarkable, chap.
considering the prevalence of limestone among *^>r*>
the Grecian Isles. We found fragments of green
steatites and schistus containing garnet. The mer-
cury in Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 75°
at noon, on the first day after our arrival, and at
78° upon the second ; which is the average
temperature of the city of Naples, during the
summer months, situate above three degrees
nearer to the pole : and as the climates both of
Italy and Greece are very regular, this autumnal
temperature in Syra is about commensurate to state of
r * m the Island.
the difference of latitude. There is not a Turk
to be found upon the island : its inhabitants are
ill Greeks; and as they profess the Catholic
religion, it might have afforded a comfortable
asylum for many of those expatriated French-
men who were driven by the calamities of their
country all over the Levant; some of whom we had
seen in places of residence less suited to their
circumstances, and where they were exposed to
inconveniences which they would not l^ave
encountered in this healthy and wealthy island.
Saturday, October the ttventy-fourth, a light voyage to
. • i i i Qyarus.
wind tempted us to weigh anchor at three a. m.
intending to sail for Ceos, now called Zia.
After we left the port, we were becalmed : but
158 " VOYAGE TO GYARUS.
chap, about eight, we found ourselves to be near to
the Island of Tenos; and at nine, the wind
coming aft, we bore away for Gyarus, now
called Jura. After we had doubled the northern
point of Syra, we saw the Promontory of
Eub(ea, called Carpharie; also Andros, Jura,
and Zia. Jura is only twelve geographical
miles from the nearest point of Syra ; it is now
almost uninhabited ; but we were curious to
visit a spot alluded to by Juvenal1 as a place of
banishment for Roman criminals : and soon
afterwards we landed. The Master of our
caique wished to sail between Fome rocks into
the harbour ; and for this purpose desired us to
ascend the heights, and point out a passage for
the vessel. When we had done this, we clearly
discerned the rocks below the surface, and
were much amazed at the very great depth in
the water which our situation enabled us to
view. Being within bearing of the crew, we
called to them, and gave them instructions how
to steer ; by which means the caique was con-
ducted through a gorge where none but Greek
sailors would think of venturing. While we
were in this situation, looking down upon the
vessel and the harbour, there came suddenly
(1) " A ode alfquid brovibtu Gyaris et carcere dignum." Juv. Sat,
BAY OF JCJRA. 159
round the northern point of the island a long chap.
narrow open boat, like a dart, filled with mari- >-^^
ners, believed by our sailors to be Hydriots, to Hydriots.
the number of thirty or forty, all plying their
oars ; who presently landed, removed from the
roeks some spars which they had previously
left there, and pushing out again to sea, disap-
peared with the same surprising velocity with
which they had arrived. We saw their little
bean-cod, as it were instantaneously, reduced
to a speck upon the waves : and while we were
admiring the dauntless intrepidity with which
these men, in a bark that could be compared
only to a long canoe, ventured to cross such a
dangerous sea, our Captain arrived ; who said
we might thank our good stars that they did
not plunder our vessel of every thing she con-
tained. He added, that there was not a part of
the Archipelago which the Hydriots would not
traverse in such a boat, venturing in all wea-
ther, and braving the most tempestuous seas :
and the only reason he could give for their not
having attacked our caique was, that he believed
they did not see it ; for it had not cleared the
passage of the rocks before they left the har-
bour. We remained in the Bay of Jura during
the rest of this day, and the following night.
The few inhabitants of this desolate spot,
160 BAY OF JURA.
chap, believing us to be pirates, were afraid to
v^v^/ approach ; so that although we saw a few
traces, as of human beings, upon the island, not
one of them appeared. We collected a few
plants and minerals. The mountain around the
bay, and especially that part of it which extends
in the same line of direction as Syra, consists of
schistus, containing masses of quartz, exhibiting
a beautiful contrast of colour. We found some
quartz crystallized, and also crystals of carbo-
^SSm na'e{^ ^me' Taurnefort describes Jura as the
of Jura. most barren and disagreeable spot in the Archi-
pelago, and says its plants are all of them
common. It is not more than four leagues in
circumference. In the time of Strabo, and
indeed in all ages, its poverty and wretched-
ness were proverbial ; and, while a less con-
temned spot hardly obtains from that author
any other notice than the introduction of its
name, Gyarus, from the supremacy of its
indigence, occupies a more considerable portion
of his regard1. A mean and miserable village,
inhabited solely by fishermen, was the only set-
tlement at that time upon its barren rocks : he
mentions their embassy to Augustus, who was
at Corinth, after the battle of Actium, praying a
(1) Vid. Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. 708. Oxon. 1807.
\
BAY OF JDRA. 161
diminution of their annual tribute, which tliey chap.
were unable to pay ; and he cites the antient 1"*
poet Aratus, to shew how long the poverty of
the island had been its only distinction*.
Towrnefort has countenanced the story related
by Pliny1 of the expulsion of its inhabitants by
rats, or by field-mice ; affirming that he saw some
large animals of this kind, which were probably
of the antient race*. Instead of the field-mice,
we saw plenty of sheep and goats belonging to
the people of Syra ; yet the existence of the
animals mentioned by Pliny is attested by many
authors, some of whom pretend that, driven
by hunger, the mice have been constrained to
gnaw the iron ore taken from the mines' ; a most
(9) " Puapertatcm eorum otlum A ratut tic inouit in minutii :
Te Laloum tenet, palo, fern* nunc Pholegandnu,
Ant G j»ron nlhilo meUorcm forU mbUtl."
Strabon. Geog. tin.*, p.100. Oxotl. 1807.
(3) Vid. Ptin. Hilt. Nat. lib. »lii. c. SO. De Cimiat.tl Qent. i
mmmtit axiinalUnit deletm. " Bx Oy*ro Cycladum insula incolu u
m/flm fngaloi," Ac.
(4) " Hon* n'j tIdm que de groa mnlot*, peut-ttre de In race de
e**x qui obligcrtut lea habJUun de 1'uUe de J'sboD doner, eomme Pline
ie rapport*." Taurnef. Vbg. du LeB. torn, 11. p. 30. Lyon, 1717.
(6) See the Authors M cited by Towrnefort: Antigon, Caritt,
Kami. Uirab. cap. 13. Aritl. lib. de Mirtib. Ante. JEtvxn Ilhl
A aim. lib. V. cap- 14. Steph. Byzoni. See.
VOL. VI. M
16£
VOYAGE TO ZIA.
chap, improbable story : but we perhaps learn from it
,II# the reason why exiles were sent hither by the
Romani ; the labour of mining having been
antiently, as it is now in many countries, a
punishment allotted to state criminals: bow-
ever, we perceived no traces either of the mine-
ral thus alluded to, or of the works carried on
for its excavation.
voyage to We left Jura for Zia, October the twenty-fifth
the weather being calm. As we drew near to
Zia, there sprung a fresh breeze, and our sailors
endeavoured to steer the caique into what they
believed to be the harbour of the island, at its
northern extremity. Fortunately, we had a small
compass, and a copy of Tournefort's travels,
the accuracy of whose maps we had before
proved ; and finding that neither our Captain
nor any of the Casiot crew knew any thing
of the coast, the author undertook to pilot the
vessel into a harbour which he had never seen, and
actually by the aid of charts which have neither
soundings nor bearings1. As soon as we had
doubled the northern point of the island, the
wind freshened apace; but it came entirely
aft, with a heavy sea, which drove us before it
(1) See Tourntf. Voy. do Lev. torn. 11. pp. 14, 21. Zyen, 1717.
VOYAGE TO ZIA. 1()3
with great rapidity down the channel between chap.
Zia and the island laying off Cape Sunium, hi.
antiently called Helena, and now Macronisu
Presently, the mouth of the port which is
on the western side of Zia, opposite to Helena,
began to appear: bat we stood on, so as to
clear any rocks which might be on its northern
side, and to have a full view of the entrance,
which is between the WeeU North-West, and
West; and then we luffed and stood towards
it In this manner we entered the port,
about noon, in perfect safety ; and found there
a Ragusan ship at anchor. It is a very large
and commodious haven, fit for ships of any
burden, and even for the largest fleets. It
extends, in an elliptical form, from the north
towards the south : the best anchorage is upon
the southern side, but small vessels may anchor
anywhere. The great article of commerce
belonging to the island, now exported from this
harbour, consists of the acorns of the Velani
Oak*, Quercus JEgitops, used for dyeing. A
(8) Tamr^fort describes this beautiful species of oak as growing to
the sue of our common oak, the Quercus Robur. We never observed
the Qswrevs JBgilop* but as a shrub ; however, the accuracy of sueh a
writer as Tourmefort is by no means to be disputed, upon a foiat that
he was so peculiarly qualified to determine. The Velani acorns, which
we brought to the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, although collected
vfcft) the utmost care, did not prodaea a single plant. .
n 9,
164 ISLAND OF ZIA.
chap, kind of cloak made of goat's hair, which is sold
III# in the port, is said by Tournefort to be manufac-
tured in Zia : but in this he was mistaken ; for
these cloaks are brought to Zia from the Isle of
Joura, pronounced Zoura, near Salonica. There
has been a great defalcation in the sale of the
Velani acorns: formerly they sold for forty
pounds sterling the quintal; and when we ar-
rived, the dealers in this article were glad to
get fifteen pounds sterling for the same quan-
tity. The produce of the island in these acorns
alone amounts annually to fifteen thousand
quintals.
It being Sunday > we found nobody at the
quay, and therefore set off for the town, and
the only one upon the island ; it is at the dis-
tance of three miles from the harbour : we
passed through a valley towards it, and after-
wards ascended to the hill on which it stands.
Carthea. It is built upon the site of the antient Carthaa,
after the manner of the town of Syra, but in the
form of a theatre, and upon a much higher
mountain ; the houses being erected in terraces
one above another, so that the roofs of a range of
dwellings below serve as a street to another
range above. Those streets, as at Syra, are i
beyond description filthy. Such a singular
\
ISLAND OF ZIA. 165
manner of building gives to the place a very chap.
novel and extraordinary appearance. The ^
citadel is upon the left, to a person entering by
the narrow pass that leads to the town ; and
here, says Tournefort1, sixty Turks, armed only
with two muskets, defended themselves against
the whole Venetian army. The ravages com- Kavaj*e»
J ... committed
m it ted by the Russians, when their fleet visited by the
this island during the reign of Catherine the
Second, were even yet the subject of conver-
sation. The inhabitants told us that their
houses were entirely stripped by them. The
specious promises which they held out to the
people of Greece are now seen in their true light
by that people, and they will not again become
the dupes of any Scythian treaty. Sonnini says
they had rendered the very name of Liberty so
odious at Paros, that the inhabitants would hear
no proposals for their deliverance from the
power of the Turks ; they preferred Turkish des-
potism to Russian emancipation. " Armed," says
he*, " in appearance for the purpose of restoring
to the Greeks their ancient liberty, they {the
Russians) became their scourge." Surely the
examples of national perfidy they have afforded
(1) Voy. clu. Leo. turn. II. |>. 15.
(2) Travel* in Greece and Turkey, j». 4o4. Lond.\$0\.
166 ISLAND OF ZIA.
chap, will not be lost upon the Cabinets of Europe. It
^IX^ was not the property of the natives alone which
suffered upon this occasion: the Hussions removed
or destroyed the most valuable antiquities;
which could not have been more effectually sacri-
ficed if they had perished, with the plunder of
the Parthenon, among the rocks* of Cythera1. The
Fine Arts, which always deprecate their coming
as they would another invasion of Alaric, will
remember with regret the days they passed in
the Archipelago: and when truth prevails over
the interests of political intrigue and the preju-
dices of party zeal, it will be seen that an author
has not erred who thus described them* : RVSSI
INTER CHRISTIANOS BARBAPQTATOI.
The male population of Zia amounts to three
thousand persons. Each house pays a tax
of ten, twelve, or fifteen piastres, annually.
We called upon the English Consul, who pro-
mised to send mules for us to the marine, if we
would come th e next day and dine with him ;
to which we consented. He informed us of a
(1) The memorable fate which attended the spoils of the finest
temple Greece ever saw, in Cerigo Bay, A.D. 1803.
(2) Vid. Jokannit Lomeuri, Lib. de Bibliotueck, cap. si. p. 358.
UUrqject. 1680.
RUINS OF IOULIS. 1 67
circumstance before alluded to, but of which chap.
we had never till then heard; namely, that m«
the famous Oxford Marble, generally believed
to have been found in Paros, was, in reality,
discovered among the Ruins of Ioulis inRaUuor
0 Ioulis.
the Isle of Zia, at four hours distance from
the town ; and he appealed to some of the inha-
bitants, well acquainted with the circumstance,
for the truth of the fact. Those ruins are little
known: Tournefort has briefly noticed them;
bat it remains for some future traveller to make
as better acquainted with the remains of a city
not only renowned as the birth-place of many
celebrated men, of Sunonidef, of Bacchylides,
of Erasistratus*, and of A lis ton6, but particularly
(4) The aattent name of Zia, KBOS, called KI A by Ptolemy, was
sometimes abbreviated, and written K02 ; and, owing to this circum-
stance, the country of the Poet Simonidbs has sometimes been con-
tended with that of Hippooratm. Stephana* Byxantimm uses the word
K02 to signify K E02, in speaking of the city Iouli*. 'IovXig w6\t£ Iv
Ky. (FkL Stepk. Byzant. Geog. X. Bat 1004.) Among the Remane, it
wmsJso usual to abbreviate dot by writing Ct$. Pliny says the island
had been called Cem% and hi his time Cnl
(5) The famous physician who discovered, by the motion of the
poise, the love which Antiochue had conceived for his mother-in-law,
8traUmke. He was the grandson of Aristotle.
(6) There were two philosophers of this name : the first mentioned
by Strabo as a native of Csos, was a Peripatetic ; the second was
«»
168
RUINS OP IOULIS.
chap, entitled to a careful examination, from the cir-
III# cumstance of the discovery there made of this
important chronicle, so long believed to owe
its origin to Paros. A place which has been
hitherto little regarded, as lying remote from
common observation, where the soil has never
been turned, nor hardly a stone removed from
the situation in which it was left when the city
was abandoned by its inhabitants, may well
repay the labour and the expense necessary for
this purpose. The season was far advanced at
the time of our visit, and our eagerness to get
to Athens so paramount to every other con-
sideration, that we did not choose to delay our
voyage thither, by making a visit to these ruins ;
which we have ever since regretted. Some
notion may be formed of their magnitude, and
the degree of consideration in which they were
held by Tournefort, from the manner in which
he introduces his account of them, after de-
scribing the remains of Carthcea1 : and with
regard to the valuable chronicle which the pre-
sent inhabitants of Z'ia maintain to have been
a Stoic, and a native of Chios: tbey have been confounded together
and it has been proposed to read 'Apurmjp KtToc for Xlof.
(1) ''Pour voir qublque chose de plus supbrbb, il faut prendre
la route du sud sud-est," &c. Voy. du Lev. torn* II. p. 15.
RUINS OF IOUMS. 169
found at Ibuus, there is something like an
internal evidence of the fact in the remarkable
records preserved upon the marble itself; not
only with regard to Simonides the poet, who was
a native of the city, but also of his descendant
Simonides son of Leoprepis, who explained at
Athens the principles of a Mmjfiovucbv, or
scheme for artificial memory, of which he was
the inventor. The antient road from Ioulis to
Carth&a, the finest thing of the kind, says
TourneforP, which perhaps can be found in all
Greece, yet exists. He traced it for three miles
in extent, flanking the sides of the hills, and
sustained by a strong wall of which the coping
consisted of immense blocks of a greyish stone,
having the property of splitting like the slate
used in the Grecian Isles for covering houses
and chapels. The remains of Ioulis are now
called nOAI2 by the inhabitants of Zia. They
cover the top of a promontory, to the south-
south-east of the present town ; the base of which
is washed by the sea, although it were a league
distant from it in the time of Strabo. The
ruins of the Acropolis are upon the point of
the Cape ; and somewhat farther from the
shore the temple is conspicuous, in the magni-
(2) Voy. <iu Lev. torn. II. p. 10. Lyon, 1717.
170 RUINS OF IOULIS.
chap, ficence of its remains : those of the city extend
ni- a from the hill quite into a valley which is
watered by the streams of a fountain whence
Ioulis received its name. " Never," observes
the author now cited1, "have I seen such
masses of marble employed in architecture, as
those used for constructing the walls of this
city ; some of the blocks are more than twelve
feet in length." The British Consul told us,
that the head of the fine Torsa represented in
Tournefort's travels was carried away by an
Englishman. Strabo relates that there were
once four cities upon this island, Poeeessd, Car-
thceOf Caressus and Ioulis ; but that in his time
the inhabitants of Paecssa had settled in Car-
thcedy and those of Caressus, in Ioulis. He has
preserved from Menander an antient and memo-
rable law - of the inhabitants of this island* :
"Let him who cannot lead an honour-
(1) Tournrfort found the remains of an inscription upon a broken
marble in a Greek chapel among the mint, containing the word
10YAIAA.
(2) *0 pi) tiwafuvoc Znv «aX*c, oh Zy kox*£. Thas rendered by
X ylamdbr, " Qui no* potest vwert beni, non mali moritur ;" perhaps
alluding to an antient custom in Zla, of putting to death aged and
infirm persons. The Editor of the Oxford Slrabo has disputed this
interpretation ; and says the sense should be, " Qui non bene vitam
agere potest, non male vitatn agat" Vid. annot In Strabo. Qeog.
lib. x. p. 710. Oxon. 1807. Not 12.— The same law is in Milan ,
lib. Hi. cap. 37.
RUINS OP IOULI9. 171
ABLfi, NOT LEAD A DISHONOURABLE LIFE/'
Ptolemy mentions three cities, instead of four ;
Caressus, louUs, and Carthtea*. From the
ruins of the last of these has originated the
present town of Zia, the only one in the whole
island : those ruins may be traced in the valley,
the whole way from the harbour to the citadel.
The name of this city — written KAP0AIA by
Strabo and by Ptolemy, and consequently Car-
thcea by Latin writers — appears upon its medals, Medal*.
KAP0A which is probably an abbreviation. We
were fortunate in procuring several : but they
were all of bronze ; nor have we ever seen or
heard of a silver medal either of loulis or of Car-
thcea. Those of the latter city exhibited in front
a laurelled bust ; and for reverse, the fore quarters
either of a. fawn or of a dog ; in some instances
with a bee below, and a semicircle of diverging
rays above the head of the animal. Their
legends were either K, simply, or KAP0HA ;
but in no instance KAP0AIA. The bee evi-
dently refers to loulis, of which city this was the
symbol ; as appears by some bronze medals
(3) Kia yijtroQ Jv y iroAcig rpitft Krfpqffffoc, 'IovXi?, KapQaia.
PtoUm. Geog. lib. iii. cap. 16. Am$t. 1618.
(4) Tournrfort speaks of an inscription of forty-one lines in the
Chapel of St. Peter ; but it was much effaced, and almost illegible.
*72 ISLAND OF ZIA.
chap, in the French Collection, on which the bee
ni- appears, with the legend IOYAL Possibly,
therefore, Iaulis was leagued with Carthma> or
had become tributary to it, when some of the
medals were struck which we brought from the
island.
Hospitality An amusing adventure befel us the next day,
Modem in our search for medals. We have before had
occasion to allude to the hospitality of the
Greeks, to their love of festivity, and to the sort
of sensation excited by the arrival of strangers
among them ; but perhaps the following anec-
dote may exhibit their national characteristics
in a more striking manner than has been hither-
to done. The Consul having sent his mules to
the harbour, we went to visit him, as we had
promised to do, and despatched messengers
about the town in search of medals and gems.
Towards the eveniug, as we were preparing to
take leave of our host, a little girl, arrived ; who
said, if we would follow her she would conduct
us to a house where several antiquities would be
offered to us for sale. Being conducted to-
wards the spot, we were surprised to meet a
young lady, very splendidly dressed, who
offered to us some medals, and said, if we would
accompany her, she would take us to a house
ISLAND OF ZIA. 173
where the owner kept a collection of such rari- chap.
ties. Presently we met a second female, nearly • m*
of the same age, and similarly habited ; who
addressed the first, laughing, and then literally
seized one of us by the arm, bidding her com-
panion secure the other: and in this manner
we were hurried into a crowded assembly,
where many of the inhabitants had been col-
lected for a regular ball. The dancing instantly
began ; and being welcomed with loud cheers
into the midst of the party, there was no alter-
native but to give up all thoughts for the rest,
of the evening, of returning to our caique, and
contribute to the hilarity of those by whom we
had been thus hospitably enveigled. Our con-
ductors proved to be the two daughters of the
tl8io7rpo^€vo99 who thus honourably entertained,
after the manner of his forefathers, two private
strangers, whom he was never likely to see
again, and from whom he could reap no possible
advantage. Every species of Greek dance was £°cient
exhibited for the amusement of his guests ;
from the bounding Mouo\opo9 or hornpipe, and
the At\opo9 or rigadoon1, to the more stately
measures of the orbicular brawl2, and the
(1) See De Gvy'i Letters on Greece, vol. I. p. 140. Land. 1781.
(2) See p. 155 of this volume.
iy4 ISLAND OF ZIA.
" thrcadle-my-necdk?' of the modern Romeka1.
The whole night passed in one uninterrupted
scene of the most joyous vivacity. To us it
seemed to exhibit a moving picture of other
times ; for in die dances we actually beheld the
choirs of the Antient Greeks, as originally they
were led around the altars of Deloe, or amidst
the rocks of Delphi, or by the waters of Helicon,
or along the banks of the Eurotas*. When
morning dawned, we retired ; bat we left them
still dancing; and we heard their reiterated
songs as we descended through the valley
towards the shore.
Produce The fertility of Zia ha3 been mentioned by
°rZuu antient and by modern authors, and it was
particularly noticed by us upon the spot3. It
appeared to be the best cultivated of any of the
Grecian Isles. In our way to and from the
town, we found among the rocks some very
rare plants } particularly the Verbascum Grcecum
(1) See p. 148. Note (l),of this Yolnne.
(2) " Qaalfo in Earotae ripis, ant per juga Cynthi
Exercet Diana chores."
Vxrg. JEneid. lib. i. Stdan. 1626.
(3) " Et cultor, nemorum qui pinguia One
Ter centum nirei tondant dameta juvenci."
Vxrg. Qeorgic. lib. i. vtr. 14. Sedan, 1625
i
ISLAND OF XIA. 175
of Towmefort, which here flourishes in great chap.
perfection. The cotton-plants were in flower: n^
the island produces also abundance of totae,
barley, silk, Jig*, and cattle. The old road from
this harbour to the city of Carthma was cut out
of the solid rock, and the traces of it are still
visible. There was a tradition in the time of
Pliny, that Zia, or, as he writes it, Cea\ had
been separated from JEttbcea by the sea, and that
a considerable part of it towards the north had
been swallowed up by the waves5. This event
might possibly occur at the bursting of the
Tkracian Bosphorus ; and to this, perhaps, the
antient Greek name of the island, Hydrussa6,
may be attributed, rather than to the abundance
or excellence of its water ; as the same name
was common to other isles; for example to
Tenos, which may, from its relative situation to
JSubceOj have had a similar origin. The moun-
tains of Zia are all of limestone ; there are no
vestiges of any volcanic operation. The mineral
(4) " Qom noatn quidam £mre Ccam." Pli*. Hi*. Nat. lib. if.
c 12. torn. I. p. 22L L. Bat. 1636.
(5) " Arulsa EabcBffi, qaingentii longa stadiit, fuit quondam ; m'ox
qoatoor fere partibai , qnss ad Bceotiam Tergebaot, eodem mari dero-
ratis." Ibid.
(6) Vid. Plin. Hiat. Nat. ubi supra.
176 DEPARTURE FROM ZIA.
chap, mentioned by Taurneforf, under the appellation
nl- of "Crate de JBriangon," a. variety of talc, i9 found
Minerals, in great abundance near the Monastery of St
Marine, or Marinas, distant about three hours
journey from the. town of Zia: the inhabitants
make no use of it. Lead ore is also found near
the same place. From hence there are two
ways of going to Athens: the first is by landing
at a port near Sunium, which is called Da&callio ;
two hours from which place is a village called,
from the abundance of its Karob-trees, Keratta,
whence the distance is only about eight or ten
hours, by land, the whole way to Athens: the
other way is by sea, up the Gulph of Engia to the
PfRiEEUs. Our Consul had. recommended the
former way as the easiest, the safest, and the
best ; but we adopted the latter, that we might
have the satisfaction of making our first approach
to Athens, from one of its antient harbours, and
of seeing as much as possible of the magnificent
scenery which the gulph exhibits.
Departure We hired a pilot from Zia, for the Saronic
for Athens.
Gviph; and left the harbour, with a fair wind,
October the twenty -seventh, soon after sun-rise.
(1) Voy. da l*v. torn. II. p. 21. Lyon, 1717.
VOYAGE TO ATHENS. 177
We passed Macronisi, once called Helena, chap.
in.
because Helen is said to have landed here after
her expulsion from Troy1*, and we had such a
glorious prospect of this island, and of the
temple of Minerva Sunias standing upon the Cape,
together with other more distant objects, that we
could recollect nothing like it : such a contrast
of colours ; such an association of the wonders
of Nature and of Art ; such perfection of grand
and beautiful perspective, as no expression of
perceptible properties can convey to the minds
of those who have not beheld the objects them-
selves. Being well aware of the transitory
nature of impressions made upon the memory
by sights of this kind, the author wrote a de-
scription of this scene while it was actually
before his eyes : but how poor is the effect pro-
duced by detailing the parts of a view in a
narrative, which ought to strike as a whole
upon the sense ! He may tell, indeed, of the
dark blue sea streaked with hues of deepest
purple — of embrowning shadows — of lights
effulgent as the sun — of marble pillars beaming
a radiant brightness upon lofty precipices whose
sides are diversified by refreshing verdure and
(-2) See Pausaniat, lib. i. c. 35.
VOL. VI. N
178 VOYAGE TO ATHENS.
chap, by hoary mosses, and by gloomy and naked
rocks ; or by brighter surfaces reflecting the
most vivid and varied tints, orange, red, and
grey : to these he may add an account of distant
summits, more intensely azured than the clear
and cloudless sky— of islands dimly seen
through silvery mists upon the wide expanse of
water shining, towards the horizon, as it were
" a sea of glass :" — and when he has exhausted
his vocabulary, of every colour and shape
exhibited by the face of Nature or by the works
of Art, although he have not deviated from the
truth in any part of his description, how little
and how ineffectual has been the result of his
undertaking !
As we passed the southern point of Macronisi,
and drew nearer to the promontory, the temple
upon the Cape appeared to the greatest advan-
tage in which it is possible now to view it1; for
it seemed to be entire, its deficiencies being
concealed by the parts which yet remain un-
injured. When we had doubled the southern
(1) There is a very accurate representation of Cape Sunium and the
Temple, engraved from a Drawing by Sir William Qell, in the edition
of Falconer'% Shipwreck published by the Rev. James Stanier Clarke,
LL.D. brother of the author of these Travels.
PORT OF SUNIUH. 179
point of the Cape, we anchored in the antient chap.
port of Sunium, an insignificant bay, lying within v^v^/
the gulph, sheltered by the promontory. HereStmium-
we landed. The owners of a small boat which
we observed coasting, believing us to be pirates,
ran their vessel aground, and abandoned her as
soon as they perceived our caique coming round
the Cape, making their escape up the rocks near
to the shore. We endeavoured, by signs, to
convince them of our peaceable intentions ; but
they betook themselves to some woods, and
appeared no more while we remained in the bay.
Proceeding towards the temple, we found the
rocks covered with evergreens and bushy
shrubs ; among which we noticed the Pistacia
Lentiscus, the myrtle, the Velania oak, and some
dwarf cedars. We also found some rolled
pieces of green trap or basalt, containing a
dendritic crystallization ; but had not leisure for
a due examination of the strata on which this
temple stands ; our sailors, who had themselves
been mistaken for pirates, being very impatient
to get under weigh, through fear that some of
the real robbers would arrive, who make the
bay of Sunium their lurking-place, where they
lie-in-wait for vessels going in or out of the
gulph. It was with difficulty we could pacify
the master of the caique during the time we
n 2
Sunias.
1M) PORT OF 8UN1UM.
chap, spent in the examination of the temple. This
s^v^ beautiful building was once adorned with the
Mb*™ most exquisite sculpture : its materials were of
the whitest marble ; it was of the Doric order ;
and the remains of it are sufficient to prove that,
when it was entire, it exhibited one of the most
highly-finished specimens of Attic architecture
in all Greece. Chandler1 believed it to have
been " erected in the same happy period with
the great Temple of Minerva, called the
Parthenon, in the Acropolis at Athens, or in the
time of Pericles, it having like proportions,
though far inferior in magnitude." Besides the
temple, there was also a PropyUum of the Doric
order at Sunium. We found fifteen columns yet
standing*. The surfaces in some of those facing
(1) Travels in Greece, p. 8. Ox/. 1776.
(2) The Sunian Temple has been recently visited by the Rev. O. C.
Benouardy Chaplain to the British Factory at Smyrna, This gentleman
has communicated the following notices concerning it, in a letter to
the author ;
" There are now standing, on the south-east side, 9 columns.
On the north side ....... 3
On the north-west side ------ 3
Total - - 16
*' Length of the Temple from N.w. to s. B. - 72 feet
Breadth ------------45
Height of columns from base to cornice - - 23
Distance of columns from centre to centre - 8
Circumference, at two feet from base - - 9 . 10$ inches."
The
PORT OF SUNIUM.
181
tbe sea were much decomposed. Several per- c "*p*
sons had written their names upon the marble ; n^v-*-'
and even those which had been inscribed with
pencils remained, with their dates, as fresh as
when they were first written. We read the
names of the lamented Tweddell, and of the
Hon. Captain William Paget. The last of
these, a gallant naval officer, now buried at
Gibraltar, will not want a memorial in Greece.
His name will be long remembered, for the Anecdote
coolness, the intrepidity, and the humanity officer.
which he displayed when commander of the
JRomney, a fifty-gun ship, during his memorable
action with a French frigate, La Sibylle, in the
harbour of Myconi. The French officer was an
old acquaintance, and one with whom he had
Tbe tame gentleman has transmitted to the author the following
beautiful Inscription, recently discovered in Samos. It relates to a
woman of the name of Tyrinn a, who died at the age of twenty-seven.
*fl y«v«y ?6Zy rt Kai Iv fiov<jy<n Tvpivva
m¥Xo\oQ, y xaaric dxpa fipova* apirijQ,
'Evvtdtag rptaaas iritov Ziiaaaa, tokivoiv
Avert] vote tkiirov ddxpva Kai <rrova\aQ.
Hclq yap, ifiov fQipivrjc, X>?P°C $6poz ovti yap avrft
AiiTOfiat, ovt' i\iirov pXaarbv auroixofiivri.
*Ayti £i xarpyov Kai v\pop6$oio pt\a9pov,
AttTTJ Tovpbv 1\ik <?ui pa Xaxovtra irtrpij.
£i fr i)v tbotf&itiv ooioQ \6yoQt ovxor av o\koq
Ov 'iiOQ9 ipov fOtfiivtic, rated' tvixvpai ri»xatC»
182 PORT OF SUNIUM.
chap, lived in habits of friendship. Captain Paget
sent a boat to him, saying he was sorry they
had met under such circumstances, but that he
must desire him to surrender. He received for
answer, that the Captain of La Sibylle well knew
Captain Pagefs force1, and that he would defend
himself to the last extremity. The Frenchman
fired first, aided by four armed vessels, which
were stationed so as to rake the Romney.
Captain Paget having observed, from the situa-
tion of his ship, that some mischief would ensue
to the inhabitants of Myconi, patiently sustained
this powerful attack without returning a single
shot, until, by getting a spring upon his cable,
he had brought the Romney into a situation
where the cannon might play without doing any
injury to the town ; then he gave his broadside,
with three cheers from his crew. The Frenchman
returned the salute ; and a warm contest ensued,
in which the Romney was ultimately victorious.
The history of this action is often related in the
Archipelago, although it have not been recorded
in England : and as the name of the hero appears
inscribed with his own hands upon the conspi-
cuous pillars of Sunium, the STHAAI AIA^ANEIS,
visible from afar, may stand as lasting a
(1) The Romney was short of her complement, by seventy-five men.
\
PORT OP SUNCUM.
183
monument of his fame, as the glorious sepul- C^IAIP-
chre which chance assigned to the memory of
Tweddell, when it caused him to be buried in
die Temple of Theseus.
Chandler says that the Temple of Minerva
Sumas was within the wall of the old town2.
We saw no remains of this town; but we
were induced to believe, from the appearance
of some ruins upon an opposite hill, on the
northern side of the port, that these were
the remains of Sunium. The impatience of
our mariners prevented our visiting those
ruins, although they have been hitherto un-
d escribed. They seemed to be too near to have
belonged to Laurium. Among the remains
of the temple we found the point of an antient
lance, and many fragments of terra-cotta vessels,
those indestructible and infallible testimonies of
places resorted to by the Antient Greeks. As
soon as we had descended to the caique, our
Captain weighed anchor, and set sail for the
Piraeus, now called Porto Lione, distant forty-
two miles from the Cape ; but we had no
sooner entered the channel, between the Island
(2) Tra?. in Greece, p. 7. Oaf. 177G. See also Wheler's Journey
into Greece, Book vi. p. 448. LomL 1G82.
184 ISLAND OF PATROCLEIA.
chap. Patrocleia and the coast of Attica, than we
in.
,« were becalmed. The island is now called
by at least half a dozen different modern names ;
it is therefore best to adhere as much as possible
to original appellations, for these will be found
frequently preserved by the inhabitants of the
country. All the barbarous nick-names given to
places and islands in Greece, and introduced
into modern geography, have been principally
owing to the Italians. Thus Athens received
the strange appellation of Settines, although
it never lost its old name among its resident
citizens, nor ever fell into the state of desolation
and desertion which has been falsely ascribed
to it. The little Island of Patrocleia still pre-
served its name in Wheler^s time1 ; but it has
been called Gaitharonesi {Asses Isle), the Island
of Ebony, Guidronisa, Garderonis, &c. ; and
owing to all these names, it has been sometimes
multiplied, and laid down in charts as a cluster
of small isles, rather than as one island. Some
geographers have believed this island to be the
Belbina of Strabo*, from the manner in which he
(1) Wheler writes it Patroclba ; but Spon, Patroclbia. See
Wheler's Journ. into Greece, Book vi. p. 449. Land* 1082. Spon,
Voyage de Grece, torn. II. p. 155. h la Haye, 1724.
(2) See Delates " Graxue Antique Tabula Nova" a* published at
Paris, 1745.
ISLAND OF PATROCLEIA. 185
has connected the BAf3iva vrjaoc with the rampart chap.
hi
constructed by Patrocluf ; but in a former part
of bis work he is more explicit as to the situa-
tion of Belbina4, describing its situation as far-
ther from the coast, and which some have
believed to be the island now called St. George
<TArbori9as it is named in a chart by D'Anvilltf.
The pilot whom we had brought from Zia
informed us "that ebony stills grows upon
Patrocleia; and we availed ourselves of the
delay caused by our being becalmed, to land in
search of it. We collected many rare plants
upon this otherwise barren spot ; but could not
find a single specimen of the Ebenus, either
Cretica or pinnata. Our sailors also landed ;
and they caught abundance of echini, upon which
(3) UpStiiTCu ik Kai Toiiruv r&v tSttuv BiXfiiva pi)<toc, oh rroXi
ix*$trf Kai 6 UarpotXov \dpal. Strdbon. Geog. lib. ix. p. 578.
Oxtm. 1807.
(4) Rif<ri2ta ik irtpUuTcu iroXXd ftkv xpoc ry *y*rtipy BiXfiiva 8k
Tfbc, re TtXayoc avartivovaa. Ibid. lib. viii. p. 544. Oxon, 1807.
(5) See D'Anville's Chart of the Archipelago, published at Paris in
1756. The Editor of the Oxford Edition of Strabo believed Lavousa
to be the modern name of Belbina. " Belbina nunc Lavousa dicitnr."
(VuL Not. in Strabon. Geog. p. 544. Oxon. 1807.) This is the island
mentioned by Spon, to whose work the Reader may be referred for the
best, indeed the only accurate, account of the islands in the Saronie
Gulph* " Entre JEgina et Coulouri, il y a une petite isle appellee
Laonsa." Voyage ds Qriee,fait aux Annies 1675 et 1676, par Jacob
Spon, torn. II. p. 156. a la Haye, 1 724.
186 ISLAND OF CALAUREA.
chap, they fed heartily, both on this and the following
w^n-^ day. The name of this prickly shell-fish, if
written abbreviated as they pronounced it, would
be *x*v> instead of ixivoe. The thermometer,
this day at noon, indicated 80° of Fahrenheit.
We were unable to leave our station off
Patrocleia before the next day ; and being afraid
to venture upon the coast of Attica, we continued
upon the island, collecting plants, until the
evening, and admiring the glorious prospect
islands in exhibited on all sides. In this gulf, between
Guiph. ! the two promontories of Sunium and Scyll&um,
there are not less than twenty islands1; but only
three of them are inhabited, Calaurea, ^Egina,
and Salamis. At present, we shall only speak
Calaurea. of the first of these, Calaurea, because the
others will occur in the order of our route. Its
situation, with regard to the Scylkean promontory,
is the same as Patrocleia with respect to the
Sunian. Calaurea, rarely visited, and almost
unknown, is the island to which Demosthenes fled,
when he sought to avoid the fury of Antipater ;
and where he swallowed poison, in the Temple
of Neptune : and although it have been disputed,
whether the island, sometimes called Poros from
(1) Sec Sport, torn. II. p. 155. a la Haye, 1724.
ISLAND OF CALAUREA.
187
a small adjoining peninsula, be the same with the C,1IIAI1>'
antient Calaurea, an inscription discovered there v^v-%^
by Chandler* has put an end to all doubt upon the
subject. He found, among the ruins of the city
and of the temple, an inscription, upon a pedestal,
containing an acknowledgment of the services
of King JEumenes "to the God, and to the
Calaureans, and to the other Greeks."
The monument of Demosthenes remained within
the precincts of the temple in the second century3.
This island is eighteen miles in circumference :
it is now inhabited by those descendants of the
ancient Macedonians who are called Arnaovts, or Albanians.
Albanians ; a people of whom we shall have
frequent occasion to speak during our travels in
Greece, and who have been much calumniated,
and called a lawless set of banditti, and as being,
with regard to terra firma, what the Mainotes, or
Lacedemonians, are upon the waves4. We are
(2) CfcnuOtr's Tra?elsin Greece, p. 212. Oxf. 1776.
(3) Tov x«pt/3oXov H ivrbc, *ai rb AnfxooOivovg pvripa Itm. Paw
mm, lib. it c. 33. p. 189. Lipt. 1696.
(4) u H demeuroit dans ces cabanes de ces sortes de gem ane les
Tores et let Grecs connoissent sous le nom d'Arnautes, et nouT autres
soot eel ay (TAlbanou. lis tont en par tie originaires de la frontiere
oecidentale de la Mac6doine, procbe des villes d*Apolimena et de
Sajoza; et en partie de l'Epire, ?ers les montagnes de la Chymere.
188 VOYAGE TO ATHENS.
chap. Dot so well acquainted with the latter : but have
reason to believe that they also have been
injuriously treated in the accounts published of
them from the hear-say statements of the Turks
and Greeks. With regard to the Albanians, it
was often our good fortune, in our subsequent
journeys, to prefer a night's lodging in their
cottages to the less cleanly accommodation of
more stately dwellings : and this brief allusion to
them has been now made, rather by anticipation,
that the Reader, finding hereafter an account of
them very different from the notions generally
entertained of this people, may not be induced
to attribute to first impressions a description of
their manners which has* been the result of
repeated experience.
The next morning we hoisted sail as the sun
was rising in great splendour above the moun-
tains ; but the wind blew in gusts, and we made
little progress. At one time it came with such
sudden violence down the side of a high
lis sont naturellement braves, d6terminez, et infatigables, gran a
▼oleur?, et juBtement dans la terre ferme de Grecc ce que les Magnottes
sont stir mer." Voyage d'Athenet, $c. par le Sr. de la Guilleliere, p. 38.
a Paris, 1675.
s
VOYAGE TO ATHENS. 189
mountain upon the Attic coast, that it had nearly chap.
upset the caique. These transitory gales are s^/^/
common in all gulphs surrounded by high land,
and they render the navigation precarious for
small vessels. The mountain to the east of us
was called, by our sailors, Elimbd, which is sumbs.
a modern name for Olympus; and the latter
appellation, perhaps, formerly denoted any very
lofty eminence, as it was common to many
celebrated mountains ; to one in Pieria, the seat
of the Gods ; to another in Bitkynia ; to a third
in My sia ; a fourth in Cyprus ; a fifth in Crete ; a
sixth in Elis ; and a seventh in Arcadia. In the
course of this day we found that we were
accompanied by a few small vessels, sailing up
the gulph, with red sails. At four o'clock in
the afternoon, being off Cape Vari, and upon
the look-out towards the n.n.e. we beheld, with
great transports of joy, the first sight of Athens ; First sight
its lofty edifices catching the sun's rays, and
rendering the buildings in the Acropolis visible
to us at the distance of fifteen miles. The
reflected light gave them a white appearance.
The Parthenon appeared, first, above a long
chain of hills in the front: presently, we saw
the top of Mount Anchesmus, to the left of the
temple ; the whole being backed by a lofty
mountainous ridge, which we supposed to be
190 VOYAGE TO ATHENS.
chap. Parnes. . All the fore part of this fine scene was
wvw occupied by Cape Vari and the Gulph1. Fart,
or Vary, is mentioned by Chandler ; but in such
an uncertain manner, that it is impossible, from
his description, to make out its antient name*.
It may have been so called from the Island
Phaura, which was situate before one of the
Capes between Phalerum and Sunium ; and there
is a small island off Cape Varu According to
Chandler, Vari is only four hours' journey from
Athens by land, which nearly agrees with the
distance mentioned to us by our pilot The
famous Grotto of the Nymphs is only three quar-
ters of an hour distant from Vari, inland ; it is
situate in a part of Mount Hymettus, which
here, stretching out into the sea, forms the
ZotterVto- promontory once called Zoster ; and this may be
montory. J . #
the same now called Cape Vari. In this man-
ner, then, we may perhaps settle the geography
of this part of the coast ; the promontory being
Zoster, and the island Phaura. Zoster was so
called because it was said Latona had loosed
her zone there, in her way to Delos9 whither she
( 1 ) The author made a sketch of it at the time, which has been
engraved for this Work : it has nothing to recommend it, bot the
fidelity of its outline, to which he paid all possible attention. — See the
Vignette to this Chapter.
(2) Tray, in Greece, pp. 147, 160. Oaf. 1770.
VOYAGE TO ATHENS. 191
was conducted by Minerva. On the shore was chap.
J m in.
an altar. A strange notion seems to have been >-^v^/
r j j r^ i Doubtful
founded upon a passage in Fausanias ; namely, story of
that a part of the colossal statue of Minerva in sutueT1*
the Acropolis of Athens was visible from the
Sunian Promontory. After the repeated proofs
which have occurred of late years, confirming
the truth of antient geographers and historians
upon many points before doubted, one would
not hastily conclude that a thing positively
asserted is untrue, because it has not remained
to undergo the test of our experience. The
distance is forty -two miles, and we barely
discerned the Parthenon at fifteen ; but the
representation of this statue, as it appears
upon an antient medal of A them3, proves that it
was much higher than the Parthenon ; and there
is no saying what the effect might be, of light
reflected from a statue of polished or gilded
brass in such an atmosphere, even at the extraor-
dinary distance from which the point of the spear
and crest of the helmet are said to have been
visible. This gulph has never been accurately
surveyed ; and the relative situation of the
different parts of it appeared to us to be
(3) See " Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis." Tab. XXVII. Fig. 1.
Paris, 1790.
192 VOYAGE TO ATHENS.
chap, erroneously marked in our best maps. But
Pausanias does not say the statue was visible
from Sunium: his words are, "to those sailing
from Sunium ;" the situation, and distance, of
the spectator are therefore very indefinitely
marked1.
Towards evening we were again becalmed,
and anchored near to a Cape which is opposite
to a point of the Island of Salamis. Here we
sent the pilot on shore whom we had brought
from Zia, as he was the only person acquainted
with the country, directing him to go to Athens
and hire horses to meet us at the Piraeus on
the following day. Soon after midnight, a
breeze sprung up ; and our impatience getting
the better of all apprehension, we resolved to
steer for the Piraeus, without any other pilot
than the stars, which shone with great bright-
ness. We knew that our course was due north :
and therefore pointing out the polar star to the
master of the caique, we persuaded him to get
under weigh, promising to pilot his vessel into
harbour as safely as we had done before into
(1 ) Trjg 'ABrjvac tj rov $6parog aixp*j *«» 6 \6fo£ tov KpdvovQ, aw6
Sovviov irpo?ir\f owlv t<rrty rjtiti rovoirra. Pausanim Attica, e. 88.
p. 67. Lips. 1096.
VOYAGE TO ATHENS. 193
the port of Zia*. There was barely wind enough chap.
to keep the vessel steady to her helm ; there- y**»s*J
fore if she chanced to fall upon a rock or a
shoal) it would be easy to get her off again, and
the pilot had said that the course was clear.
Accordingly, we set sail, and for once ventured
towards a lee-shore, without seeing any thing of
the land. In this manner passing the mouth of
the old haven Phalerum, as we drew near to
the Munychian Isthmus, we distinctly perceived
the coast, like a long dark wall, before us. Upon
this, we stood somewhat farther out, towards
the north-west ; and doubling the point, lowered
our sails, and took to the oars, steering north-
east, and afterwards due east ; by which means
we soon entered the outer port of the Piraeus ; Arrival
but endeavouring to pass farther in, we drove pirnou.
the vessel upon the ruined pier, on the Muny-
chian side. Daylight was beginning to dawn ;
and a part of this pier rose above the water, so
that we were enabled to land upon it, and lighten
the caique while our sailors were employed
in getting her head off the pier. We found the
entrance to the inner harbour to be close to this
(2) The variation of the compass 12°. 55', as observed in 1751,
slakes the course exactly north by the magnetic needle. See StuarV$
Athens; Map of Attica ; vol.111.
VOL. VI. O
194 APPROACH TO ATHENS*
chap, part of the antient rampart ; but it was eight
^■v-^, o'clock a.m. October the twenty-ninth, before we
brought the vessel to an anchor off the custom-
house, in a good sandy bottom, and about four
fathoms water. Seven or eight fathoms may be
found nearer to the mouth, and eleven between
the two piers, the bottom shelving into fifteen
and twenty fathoms in the outer port, with good
anchorage1.
Approach At ten o'clock, we landed; and having mounted
' our horses, took the antient road to the city, by
the indistinct remains of the walls of Canon*, the
Sepulchre of Menander, and the Cenotaph of
Euripides. It were useless to relate the feelings
with which we viewed the grandest and most
affecting sight that hath been left for modern
times. The Classical Reader, already con-
vinced that nothing exists upon earth to equal
(1) As an extraordinary event in the history of the Piraeus, it may
he mentioned, that the author's brother, Captain Clarke of the Royal
Nary, brought an English frigate, the Bradktl, to an anchor within
this port ; but not without considerable damage to the ship. Tb«
Athenians flocked in crowds to witness this extraordinary spectacle.
See a narrative of the event in the Notes to an edition of Falconer's
Shipwreck, by the Rev. J. S. Clarke, LL.D. theBiographer of Nelson,
(l)'AytoVrMV Sk U Ilctpai&c, iptliria rwv rugM" forty, & JLSvuy
fortpop rqc irpbc KvlSov yav/iagiac avkornvi. Pausan. Attica, c. 2.
p. 7. Lips. 1606.
APPROACH TO ATHENS. 195
it, may give a traveller credit for emotions, chap.
similar to those excited in his own mind by the
mere mention of an approach to Athens ; and
he will anticipate, by his imagination, what it is
impossible to describe. Such is the nature of
the place, and such the magnitude of its ruins,
that, in a general view, time seems to have
spent its ravages upon it in vain. The Acro-
polis, and the Temples, and the Tombs, and the
Theatres, and the Groves, and the Mountains,
and the Mocks, and the Plain, and the Gardens,
and the Vineyards, and the Fountains, and the
Baths, and the Walls, and the Gates, as they
appeared to Pericles, Socrates, and to Alcibiades.
" Adsunt Athene, unde humanitas, doo
trina, religio, fruges, jura, leges ort.e,
atque in omnes terras distributee, putantur :
de quarum professione, propter pulchritu-
DINEM, ETIAM INTER DeOS CERTAMEN FUISSE
PRODITUM EST. URBS, INQUAM, QUiE VETUSTATE
EA EST, UT IPSA EX SESE SUOS CIVES GENUISSE
dicatur: AUTHORITATE autem TANTA, UT JAM
FRACTUM PROPE ET DEBILITATUM GRJECIM NOMEN,
HUJUS URBIS LAUDS NITATUR."
O 2
PLAN of (h, ANTIQUITIES of ATHENS.
9 ■&*.
. PirMtn Can.
. r*y*.
. Hum*.
. ISmwnt of Fhilo-
pappoa,
■. Areopttgvt.
i. Grotto of Pm.
. Pietun GalUry.
I. Propylta.
I. Tmylt of Victory.
I. Erttthmm.
.. Pnrthrnim.
12. 7fc«lr, of Regill..
13. Ckijir PtUari.
14. Choragit Monument
of Tbrujllus.
15. Chorogic Mount of
16. Th/atri of Bacchui.
17. JVmpit of Japicei
Olympic.
IB. ,4rrh of llndriln.
19. -iniienl Wniti.
30. Stadium of Herodei.
CHAP. IV.
32. Fount
face.
./ Cllir-
23. Fun
24. Ttmpkof th, Wimdi.
25. Gynmaimn «/ Pto-
36. Timpi «f Tlmeni.
27. Sacmf Gal* />«.
EleaaB.
38. Long Walk of tki
ATHE N 8.
Origin of the fabulous Contest between Neptune
and Minerva— Antient Sepulchral Monument
— Excavations at Athens — View of the Ce-
cropian Citadel— Funereal Aspect of the City
— Objects in tke perspective — State of the An-
tiquities— Interesting Relic — Remarks upon
entering Athens — Guilletiere — Ascent of the
Acropolis — Relic of Phidian Sculpture —
Adytum of Pan — 'Upa of the Greeks— Por-
table Shrines — Statue of Pan — Celebrated
Artist — Spoliation of tke Temples — Comparison
ATHENS.
between the Grecian and Roman Buildings —
Athenian, Posidonian, and iEginetan Archi-
tecture— Cause of the Injury sustained in the
Sculpture of the Parthenon — Splendid Repre-
sentation of the Panathenaea — Description of
the Work — The Cothurnus, and Petasus or
Pileus — Practice of gilding and painting Sta-
tues— Marbles used in the Acropolis — Singular
Construction of the Erect he urn — Of the Pry-
taneum — Temples of Pandrosus and Minerva
Polias— Of the Olive, and Well- Propyls*
— Walls of the Acropolis — Odeum of Regilla
— General Description of the Theatres of
Greece — Areopagus — Temple of Theseus.
This road, from the Piraeus to Athens, extend- C1|y#p"
ing for about five miles, formerly passed over
marshy ground ; for the foundations of the two
long walls, which enclosed the Piraeus within
the precincts of Athens, were, according to
Plutarch, laid in a .marshy soil, prepared for the
purpose by being filled with huge pieces of
rock1* An inference may be deduced from this
circumstance, which does not seem to have
been noticed ; that the plains of Greece having
evidently resulted from the retiring of waters
gradually carried off by evaporation and by
(l) Aiytrcu Zk *al rmv paKpQv tux** & ffciXiy roXovat, <rvvTt\«r-
ftfroc fuv vartpor r^v oUo&ofriav, r^v £2 irp+rrtjv Otfukuteiv, tic tSvovq
iAttfaf mi ttaflpSxoug rmv lpy*v l^inabvrmv ipn<T9fjvai M Kifutvoc
«*fri£c, %akuu woXXj mat XiBoiQ fiapi<ri rmv i\*v *U99ivt*v,Uuvov
Xpipara wpitorroc *ai Idovro^. Plutarch* Cimon. Urn. III. p. 126.
1723.
198 ATHENS.
chap, other causes, the lakes and marshes which
V-^s/^/ remained in antient times were so many relics
ttieFabo- °^ *^c retrea^ng flood. Hence, perhaps, the
lwwCon- origin of the antiquated and popular fable,
tweenNep- among the earliest settlers in Attica, of the
tune and °
Mmtrva. contest between Neptune and Minerva for the
country, rather than that which Plutarch has
assigned ; who believed it to have been founded
on the endeavours of the kings to withdraw the
people from a sea-faring life to the labours of
agriculture1. After this contest is said to have
happened, Neptune is described as endeavouring
to regain the territory by subsequent inunda-
tions. Some of the lakes noticed by historians
are now become marshes, and the marshes they
mention are become dry land. There is now
little appearance of marshy land between the
Piraeus and Athens*: the road lies through
vineyards, olive-grounds, and plantations of fig-
trees. Several plants were in flower ; and the
specimens we collected were fresher than those
we gathered in the islands. In one of the
sepulchral vineyards we saw a Tumulus, which is undoubt-
Monu-
ment.
(1) Vid. Plutarch, in Themitt. torn. I. p. 268. Lond. 1729.
(2) We did not observe any thing of this nature in the road from the
Piraeus; but in the map of Attica, as surveyed by Stuart, there b
notice of a manhy soil bordering the Phalerum, now called Porto
Phanari. See StuarVe Athens* Lond. 1794.
ATHENS. 199
ediy an antient sepulchre. The monument of chap.
Euripides was a Cenotaph, but that of Menander
did really contain his ashes. The tomb of
Euripides was at Pella, in Macedonia ; possibly,
therefore, this mound may have been the sepul-
chre of the Comic Poet Pausanias, speaking
of the Cenotaph of Euripides, calls it Mv^a\
This is evidently Ta^o?, but it has upon its
summit the remains of some structure, not
as for the support of a Sttte> but of a MvnjuTov
raised upon the mound ; which would rather
confirm Chandler's opinion, who believed it to
be the monument raised to Euripidef. It had
not been opened at the time of our arrival. The
business of making excavations among the
Grecian tombs was then beginning in the neigh-
bourhood of Athens, and it has since abun- 1*™**
' Athens*
dantly rewarded the taste of those travellers
under whose patronage such labours have been
carried on5. We observed the remains of the
(S) See Pausanku, lib. L c 2. p. 6*. Ups. 1096.
(4) See Travels in Greece, p. 84. Oaf. 1776.
(5) A French artist, Mont. Fauvel, is said to bare met with great
■access in these researches. Don Battista Lusieri opened several
tombs, and thus made a collection of the most valuable Grecian
vases. Among English travellers, the Earl of Abbrdbbh is particu-
larly distinguished for his liberality in encouraging works of this kind :
the more laudable, in being opposed to the lamentable operations
whfch another British Earl, one of his Lordship's countrymen, was
then
200 ATHENS.
chap, the antient paved way leading from the Pirceetts ;
* — v — ' also, of an aqueduct. As we drew near to the
then prosecuting to the uttbb ruin of the finest works of Antient
Greece. To the Earl of Aberdeen, History and the Fine Arts will ever
be indebted, for the pains he bestowed in the excavation and restora-
tion of the Pnyx, and for other similar undertakings. (See Appendix
to the Cambridge Marbles, p. 67. Comb. 1809.) Many of our coun-
trymen have since followed Lord Aberdeen's example.
Upon the subject of the excavations at Athene, Mr. Walpole has the
following observations in his Journal :
"Travellers, who will be at the pains to excavate the soil in the
vicinity of Athens, will be amply rewarded for their trouble. The
vases which Signor Lusieri has found in digging near the city are, In
their form and general execution, not to be surpassed by any that nave
been discovered in Italy and Sicily. Among other remains of antiquity,
he has found musical instruments (the atiXbc and wXaytavXoc,
called by the Modern Greeks, xayiavXiov), ornaments of dress of
various kinds, ear-rings of gold, and mirrors. These last are of
metal : in Pliny (lib. 34.) we find mention of the employment of tin
and silver in the fabrication of them : the Jews and Egyptians used
those made of brass. In the time of Pompey there were some of
silver. The form of the antient mirror is observed frequently on vases
in this shape 9 > being the character of one of the planets and a metal ;
namely, Venus, and copper: the meaning of it, thus applied, is
evident, as mirrors were sacred to Venus, and were made of a metal
from Cyprus; that is, copper; and were covered with a leaf of silver.
In the analysis of a mirror, Caylus discovered a mixture of copper,
regulus of antimony, and lead : copper was tho preponderating ; lead,
the least part.
" In the Ceramicus, near to the site of the Academy, was discovered
that very antient and interesting Inscription in verse (now in England),
of which Mods. Fauvel gave me a copy at Athens, relating to those
Athenians who had fallen at Potidsea, in the Peloponnesian war : the
first line, legible, begins, AieEPMEMftZTXASYHEAEXSATO . .
The form of the letters, and other archaisms, render the inscription
very valuable. Near the Church of Soteira Lycodemon, probably the
site of the antient Lyceum, was found an Inscription, copied also by
Mons*
ATHENS. 201
walls, we beheld the vast Cecropian Citadel, chap.
IV.
crowned with temples which have originated in s^vw
the veneration once paid to the memory of the ct^aS^
illustrious dead1, surrounded by objects telling
the same theme of sepulchral grandeur, and
now monuments of departed greatness, mould- Fnnereai
ering in all the solemnity of ruin. So para- ^clty0/
mount is this funereal character in the approach
to Athens from the Piraeus, that as we passed
the hill of the Mushim, which was, in fact, an
antient ccemetery of the Athenians, we might
have imagined ourselves to be among the tombs
of Telmessusj from the number of the sepulchres
hewn in the rock, and from the antiquity of the
Fan vel, mentioning Dionysius, Avctiov ixi/aX^rijc. The removal
of the earth from part of the Pnyx has given as a more exact notion
of the form of that celebrated place of assembly. A number of votive
offering* were found at the time of the excavation by Lord Aberdeen;
bat to what Deity or what temple they belonged, it is difficult to say.
On one of them, having an eye sculptured on the stone, were the
words E$ftog votary iv%tJv : on another I saw, Svvrpof og tyiery Aft
Xapcffnfpiov." Walpole's MS. Journal*
(1) The first place of worship in the Acropolis of Athens was the
Sepulchre of Cecrops. The Parthenon was erected upon the spot.
(Set the Observation* in Vol. II. of these Travels, Chap. II. p. 76.
Octavo edition.) The Athenians preserved his tomb in the Acro-
potis, and that of Eriethonius in the Temple of Minbrya Polias.
(Vict. Antioeh. apud Clemen. Alexand. torn. 1. p. 39. Oxon. 1715.)
Bene* Clemens is of opinion that tombs were the origin of all their
temples : New? pkv lirjrjpuc 6Vo/ta£o/uvovc, rafovQ ik ytvopivovg, rod-
Tiert rovt rafovc, vti*Q iirucfcXiffUvovc* Clementis Alexandrini Cohor-
tatio ad Gentet, c. 3. torn* I. p. 39. Oxon. 1715.
202 ATHENS.
chap, workmanship, evidently not of later date than
v^v^ &ny thing of the kind in Asia Minor. In other
respects, the city exhibits nearly the appear-
ance briefly described by Strabo eighteen cen-
turies before our coming1; and, perhaps, it
wears a more magnificent aspect, owing to the
splendid remains of Hadrians Temple of Olym-
pian Jove, which did not exist when Athens
was visited by the disciple of Xenarchus. The
object* in prodigious columns belonging to this temple
ipecu?e. appeared full in view between the Citadel and
the bed of the HHssus* : high upon our left rose
the Acropolis, in the most impressive grandeur1 :
an advanced part of the rock, upon the western
side of it, is the Hill of the Areopagus, where
St. Paul preached to the Athenians, and where
their most solemn tribunal was held4. Beyond
. •
(1) Td 8' &9TV airb irirpa ioriv iv ireSii?, wtptoiKovfiiyn cvcX^* i*2
Sk rj wirpa rd rrjc 'AOnvac Upbv, o, ti apxa*°C v«wf d rjjc UoXi&ioc,
tvif 6 dofiteroc X6%vo£, tal o UapQivvv, dv kToiqatv 'Icrlvoc, i* *• to
rov Qttdiov Ipyov iki+avrivov, if 'AOnva. Strabon. Qeog. lib. viii. p,
574. Oxon. 1807.
(2) 8ee the Plate feeing p. 600 of Vol. III. of the Quarto Edition
of these Travels, from a Drawing by Preaux, made upon the spot:
alto the Vignette to thlt Chapter. The author pretendi not to agitate
the question, whether this building be really the Temple of Jupiter,
or the Pantheon: the Reader may be referred to the proofs in support
of the former opinion, as they are given by the Earl of Aberdeen, in the
Introduction to Wilkhts'e Translation of Vitruviue, p. 66; also in Note
(1) to p. 9 of the Text of that work. Land. 1812.
(3) See the Plate above referred to, and the Vignette to this Chapter.
(4) Ibid.
ATHENS. 203
all9 appeared the beautiful Plain of Athens, chap.
bounded by Mount Hymettus. We rode towards
the craggy rock of the citadel, passing some
tiers of circular arches at the foot of it ; these state of
are the remains of the Odtum of H erodes, Atticus? q„uiea. "
built in memory of his wife Regilla. Thence
continuing to skirt the base of the Acropolis, the
road winding rather towards the north, we saw
also upon our left, scooped in the solid rock, the
circular sweep on which the Athenians were
wont to assemble to hear the plays of JEschylus,
and where the Theatre of Bacchus was after-
wards constructed. The Torso of a statue of the
Iwdian Bacchus, placed, in a sitting attitude,
upon the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus
above this theatre, exhibited to us the first
specimen of Athenian sculpture which we had
seen upon the spot ; atld with the additional
satisfaction of viewing it in the situation where
it was originally placed6. Stuart considered
(5) Sea the Plate above referred to.
(6) This statue was long bettered to be that of a female. Stuart
represented it with a female head. (See Stuart's Antiq. of Athens,
•■L Ii.dk. iv. PI. 6. Land, 1817.) Chandler considered it at the
stttae of Niobt. (Trav.in Greece, p. 64. Cxf. 1776.) It really re-
presented the Indian, or bearded, Bacchus; ]»art of the beard having
bam discovered upon the statue. It is moreover decorated with the
tpafli of a panther. Alas ! not only this Statue, but also the antient
Sun-dial
in* Relic.
204 ATHENS.
the theatre as the Odium of Pericles1 ; and it i
remarkable that Pausanias mentions a statue <
Bacchus, as worthy of notice, in a coospicuot
situation upon entering the Odtum*. Upon th
lateral- eastern side of this statue, fastened in the rocl
appeared a still more interesting relic ; namel]
the very antient Sun-dial which, in the time <
<32schylus, of Sophocles, and Euripides, indicate
to the Athenian people the hour at which the
plays were to begin. This we had reason I
hope would be permitted to remain where it ha
been so long preserved ; as no antient n<
modern Alaric had deemed it to be an obje
worthy of his regard. Above the statue v
saw also the two Choragic Pillars for su]
porting tripods, described by Chandler* an
by Stuart*, standing high upon the stec
acclivity of the rock5. Fortunately for us, v
Sun-dial near to it, which had existed there ercr since the time
jEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides— antiquities which were 01
Taloable as long as they remained in their original situation — hm b*
since pulled doum^nd carried of, in the name of the British Nation,
the agents of onr Ambassador at the Parte!! !
(1) Antiq. of Athens, vol. II. p. 7. Letter ft.
(3) *Ec ik to 'Aftfrntfir tict\9ov<nv tftelov, aXXa rt coi Atom
ttiraj Mac, a£«>c. Pausan. lib. L c 1 4. p. 34. Lips. 1 696.
(9) TraT. in Greece, p. 63. Oxford, 1776.
(4) Antiq. of Athens, vol. II. ch. 4. Land. 1787.
(5) See the Plate in the Quarto Edition of these Travels, Vol. 1
abore referred to.
ATHENS. 205
arrived before the spoliation of this part of the chap.
antient city ; and we therefore saw all these
interesting objects, as they existed in the time of
Pericles.
We then entered the gate of the modern city :
and almost the first object we beheld was the
only remaining structure of all the consecrated
fabrics that once adorned the famous Street of
the Tripods, the elegant choragic Monument
of Ltsicrates6. In the small Capuchin Con-
vent annexed to this building, our friend and
former companion in the Plain op Troy,
Don Battista LusierF , had fixed bis residence.
(6) See Stuart's Antiq. of A then*, vol. I. ch. iv. Plate 3. Lend. 1762.
(7) This celebrated artist, better known by the name of Don Tita,
it a native of Naples; he resided many years in Italy, where he was
waowned for his beautiful drawings in water-colours. Many of his
tat works are in the Collections of our English Nobility. By tome,
b* compositions have been deemed too laboured ; but his colouring is
Otyritite, and nothing can exceed the fidelity and perfection of his
«*tfme and perspective. It may be said of Lusieri, as of Claude
Wrow, •« If he be not the Poet, he is the Historian of Nature."
*ft«n the French invaded Naples, he retired to Sicily, and was long
•■ployed among the Ruins of Agrigentum, devoted entirely to his
fctouite pursuit. The desire of seeing Greece, tempted him to
fcfov the British Embassy to Constantinople, in 1799; whence he
Rnovedto Athens; where he now lives, surrounded by everything
tbtt may exercise his genius ; and where he is not less distinguished
by his amiable disposition, and disinterested attention to travellers who
*ttt the city, than by his taste, and knowledge of every thing connected
*ith the history of the Pine Arts.
206
ATHENS.
chap. A monk told us that he was then busy in the
nr. m J
Acropolis, making drawings in the Erecto^um ;
therefore leaving our horses and baggage, we
set out instantly in pursuit of him, anticipating
the gratification we should recive, not only in
surprising him by our appearance where he had
not the smallest expectation of seeing us, but
also in viewing the noblest monuments of anti-
quity with a Cicerone so well qualified to point
out their beauties.
Remark!
upon en*
tering
Athens.
As we are now about to ascend the Acro-
polis, and of course to enter upon a descrip-
tion of antiquities which are well known, it is
necessary to premise that our observations will
be brief. To give a detailed account of every
thing which has been hitherto deemed worthy
of notice in such a city as Athens, would be as
much a work of supererogation as to republish
all the inscriptions which have been found in the
place, and to renew the detail of every circum-
stance so often related concerning its antient
history. The author's remarks will be confined
to such observations as, to the best of his
knowledge, have not been made by former
travellers ; but, perhaps, even in such a com-
munication, it will not be always possible to
avoid repeating what others may have said.
ATHENS. 207
A mistaken opinion prevailed until towards the CIJ*P-
end of the seventeenth century1, that the remains
of Athens bad been almost rased from the earth,
and that even its name no longer existed. The
few merchants who resorted to the Piraeus
from Italy and from other parts of the Mediter-
ranean, had given to it the barbarous appellation
of Setines or Sethina* : although, " of all the
antient cities in Greece" as an early traveller
remarked, who will presently be more particu-
larly noticed, " no one has preserved its name
with better success than Athens has done ; for
both Greeks and Turks call it A8HNH." This is
another instance of the corruptions introduced
(1) dandier says, "until the middle of the sixteenth century;"
bet the public cariosity does not appear to bare been directed to this
city until long after the publication of the work to which he alludes.
(2) Sethma, and Satina, are corruptions, according to Portia and
Meurtius from tic 'Afnva. Various conjectures have arisen touching
the origin of the antient name. Heinsius (in A rut ar. Sac. Synt. 1. 1.
p. 27.) derives it from the Chaldean M3J1 then a, signifying to study or
Ueam, written with an article, battheka. In the time of Diodoms
Siemlms, and before him, it was a received opinion that Athens was
peopled by the Egyptians : Sa'is, in the Egyptian language, answering
to Athenm in Greek. The word Sethina is found in the Latin
Poem of Hugo FavoUus {in Hodap. Byz. f. iii.) who himself visited
the spot.
Undique sic misers nobis spectantur Athena?,
Dsddala quas Pallas sese eoluisse negaret,
Quas, Neptune pater, nunquam tua moenia dices,
Indigene Sethina vocant."
«
208 ATHENS.
chap, into the modern nomenclature of places in
Xm>r^ Greece, by Italians and by Frenchmen: and it
ought to be the constant endeavour of authors,
by whom the country is described, to prevent
this abuse, by adopting the antient names in
their writings, where it can be done with pro-
priety, and certainly in all cases where they
have been preserved by the inhabitants. It has
been supposed that the first intelligence of the
better fate of Athens was communicated to the
world by the valuable publications of Sir George
Wheler and Jacob Spon : but seven years before
Wheler and his companion arrived in Athens, it
had been visited by the traveller above men-
tioned ; who anticipated almost every thing
which they have said upon this subject.; and the
narrative of whose Travels, although little
known, and rarely noticed by any subsequent
author, contains the most racy description of
the city and of its inhabitants, of its antiquities
and statistics, which had appeared before the
time of its publication. This traveller was De
Guuutkn. la Guilletiere, or, as he sometimes signed him-
self, Guillet, answering to a name common in
England, Willet. After four years of slavery
in Barbary, he arrived in Athens, in company
with two Italians, two Germans, and an English-
man of the name of Drelingston, the first of our
ATHENS. 209
countrymen who voluntarily undertook this chap.
voyage for the mere gratification of classical
taste and literary curiosity. The original edition
of GuilUtieres work appeared in Paris in January
1675. In the beginning of June in the same
year, Wheler " hastened to Venice," (it is his
own expression1,) after his travels in France
and Italy, in search of Dr. Spon, to accompany
him upon a similar voyage. It is therefore
highly probable that the success of Guilletieres
expedition excited Wheler to this sudden under-
taking : that he had seen his work is evident,
for he cites it, calling its author De la Gulitier*,
and Guiltier*; and although he speak rather
lightly of bis predecessor4, he sometimes co-
pies him without owning bis obligation5. His
(1) WkeUr'i Journey into Greece, p. 1. Lend. 1682.
(*) Ibid. p. 340.
(9) Ibid. p. 963.
(4) " Bat not as Monsieur OuUiter affirmeth" .... "My com-
panion and I were not so much surprized, &c. as Monsieur Guiltier"
• • those manrcluus stones Monsieur Guiliter makes such a
iJTiHe of .... &c. Ibid.
(5) Of this, several instances may be pointed out, where the transcript
Is as literal as it can be from one language Into another. " A 1'egard
da langage, fl est le plus pur, ct le moins corroropu de la Qrece."
(GmMet, p. 165. Paris, 1676.) " The Athenians seem to retain more
of Hie antient Greek in their language than the rest of the Modern
Greets do." ( Wheler" s Journey into Greece, p. 366. Lond.\6S2.) And,
after all, this it not true; for the purest Greek is not spoken in Athens.
VOL. VI. P The
210 ATHBH9.
chap, companion, Spon, had done the same ; but, with
all his learning, he has not produced either so
entertaining a work as that of Guilletiere, or,
divested of its inscriptions, one that contains
more of information. We may therefore, per*
haps, look to Guilletiere as to the person who
first drew the attention of English travellers
towards the ruins of Athens; for although the
Letters, giving a description of the city, which
were published by Martin Crusins, appeared
nearly a hundred years before, yet those Letters
The greatest proof, perhaps, of plagiarism that can bt adduced, it one of
this nature; shewing, that even the error$ of an amthor have bee*
transcribed. If either Wheler or his companion had given themselves
the trouble to consult the authors cited by Meurtiut, they would have
found the very opposite of this assertion expressly stated; that, of
above seventy dialects now remaining in Modern Greece, the Athe-
nian, instead of being the purest, is the most corrupted, and the worst.
Utpi di T(3v dtaXsKTutv, W cLv *al etirot/u, iroXXwv ohv&v, icai Siaf6pw,
itirtp r<3v ifidofifiKovra', rovruv d' ajra£Jv, ») TcJv'AOtjvaUtv gcipfcmf.
( Vid, Epist. Sim. Cabasila, ad Mart. Cms. script, anno 1578.) And
Theodosius Zyyomalas, in his Letter to the same person, says, speaking
of the Greek langnage in Athens, 'HaAiov 8k fiapflaooQ, iariv 17 rw
'AOnvaiwv H nc r/v hrt v?rif pgcv, apivrif av ri£ tl tliry KaraSiaperpor.
rg iraXai, oi>x Slv apdproi. Meursii Fortuna Attica, p. 113. L. Bat*
1622. Again, Guilletiere, after the passage which the author has cited,
concerning the existence of the ancient name of the city, says, '• Nos
geographes ont beau nous le vouloir alterer en l'appellant Setines"
Wheler transcribes the whole ; and also adds, " I wonder our modern
geographers have been no better informed concerning so eminent a place,
calling it most corruptly, in their maps, Setines" . . . &c. There are
many other examples of a similar nature, in the volumes both of Wheler
hiASpon.
ATHENS. 211
have attracted more notice in this country chap.
since, than before, Whaler's time ; and they ^-v^s
always tended rather to maintain than to
confute the erroneous notion, which was so
long prevalent, concerning the condition of
the city1. Guilletiere's diminutive publica-
tion is nevertheless so comprehensive, that,
abating a few partial inaccuracies, tho conse-
quences of pursuing an untrodden path, his
book is, even at the present day, a useful guide
to the antiquities of Athens; and his plan of the
city, rude as it may appear among the works of
later artists, is so much better than that which
Wheler afterwards edited, that it is strange the
latter did not adopt it in his work.
As we ascended the steep rock on which the Ascent of
Citadel stands, our first subject of wonder was jw/i*.
the power displayed by the Antients in con-
veying up such an acclivity the enormous
masses of marble necessary in the construction
of so many sumptuous edifices ; when all the
skill and ingenuity of the best workmen in
(1) One of thote Letters is from a native of Nauplia : it was written
i» 1576. Its author says, " 'AXXd ri rdSv 'A0if vJv fivtjoOtig, /icucpoXoy w ;
ItpsM XsifOf i?af tov wAXaiwork €mov. Sed quid malta de Atlienis
dlco! Soperest bodie tantum pelli* : animal ipsam olim peril t" VUL
Bp%*. Fam. Turcogrecia, lib. Til. p. 430. Basil. 1583.
P 2
212 ATHENS.
chap. JSurope were requisite, at the time of our arrival,
to remove some of the most delicate ornaments
of the temples, in an entire state, from the
Acropolis to the lower city. None of the mate-
rials of those temples are of the same nature
as the rock upon which they were erected :
the quarries of Pentelicus, of Hymettus, of the
Cyclades, of Lacedcemon, and of the most distant
mountains of Greece, contributed to the works
necessary for their completion. All the huge
blocks of marble required for the several parts
of each building must have been moved up the
same steep ; for there is now, as there was
formerly, but one way facing the Piraeus by
which the summit may be approached1. In our
ascent, we found an inscription on white marble,
stating that u the Senate of the Areopagus, and
of the Six Hundred, &c. honour Julius," &c. the
rest being wanted. We could only make out
the following characters :
HEZAPEIOYnATOYBOY
AHTflNEEAKOZIHNKAl
IOYaIONNIKANOPA..
(1) 9Eq Sk ri)v anpoxoXiv, ioriv tlaotoc jiia, (Jkrhpav Hod irapt-
Xtrai, Ttaoa inrdro/ioQ ova a) icai rctgog Ixovaa l%vp6v.
Attica, c. 22. p. 51. Lips. 1606.
ATHENS. 213
Soon afterwards, somewhat higher up, we also chap.
saw, among some loose stones used as the mate- v^yl^
rials of a wall near to the gate of the Citadel, a
piece of sculpture of white marble in very bold
relief, representing the torso of a male figure. This
proved to be nothing less than a fragment of one
of the metopes belonging to the Parthenon ; and
therefore, as the undoubted work of Phidias, Be\\c of
although but a fragment, could not fail to be sculpture.
regarded by us as a valuable relic, and a very
great curiosity. It was not to be easily pro-
cured ; neglected and abandoned as we found
it lying ; owing to the embargo then laid upon
every thing of this kind by our Ambassador,
and the absolute prohibition against moving any
thing, excepting into his store-house. The
Dudar, however, afterwards claimed it as his
property, and presented it to us ; and it is now
in the Vestibule of the University Library at
Cambridge, a solitary example of sculpture
removed from the ruins of the Parthenon without
injuring what time and the Goths have spared.
Upon the left hand we saw, in the face of the
rock, the small cavern which perhaps may be
considered as the Grotto of Pan ; for this, by its 0f h*™
relative position to other objects, seems to be
the identical cavity which is represented in the
on.
214 ATHENS.
chap. Tiew of the Acropolis preserved upon an antient
medal of Athens in the Collection at Parts1. It
is below the right wing of the Propylaa, or
antient vestibules of the Citadel, in the situation
which Pausanias assigns for it ; and somewhat
lower in the rock is the fountain mentioned also
by him*. In other respects, it seems ill suited
to the stories which caused it to be considered
as the scene of Apollo's amours with Creusa, and
as a place of residence for Pan : but when the
mind is completely subdued by superstition, it
is seldom burdened by any scruples as to proba-
bility ; the same priests who now exhibit at
Jerusalem, the altar of a small chapel as the
Hill of the Crucifixion* are a modern example of
the Nao^vXaiccc who attended the Shrine of Pan,
and they possess a degree of intellect as well
calculated for admitting the extravagances re-
lated of the one as of the other. The Grotto, as
it now appears, seems to be nothing more than
one of those niches in which votive offerings
(1) See the Greek Coin engraved for Barthdemy'i Anacharris,
Tab. XXVII. No. 1. ParU, 1790.
(2) Kara/3a>t 8k oinc Iq t$v can* tr6\ivf &W h<rov vwb rd Tpowv-
Aaia, irijyrj rt Ibtiaroc l<Tri,Kai irXtjoiov 'AttoWwvos Upbv iv airijXalip,
cat TlavoQ. PausanUs, lib. i. cap. 28. p. 68. Lips. 1606.
(3) See Vol. IV. of the Octavo edition of these Travels, Chap. VII.
p. 318.
ATHENS. 216
were placed ; and although described as a cave chap.
which contained a temple of Apollo, and of Pan\ ^-v-^
would barely admit the size of a human figure.
But this allusion in antient history to temples so
diminutive that they could not have exceeded the
size of a child's baby-house^ may receive illustra-
tion, like many other parts of the Heathen reli-
gion, from existing superstitions. The subject
has not) perhaps, been sufficiently explained ; as
none of the authors who have written on Grecian
antiquities seem to be aware of a custom which
has been transmitted from the earliest ages of
Pagan worship to modern times. The fI«pi 'icpaof the
of the Greeks, as well as the Tabernacles of
Eastern nations, were sometimes not only porta- Portab]e
bk> but they were so small, that the Ktarai iepal, shrines.
used for inclosing them during journeys, scarcely
exceeded the size of the fashionable snuff-boxes
now used by the petit-maitres of Paris and
London. Examples of this kind of portable shrine
are particularly common in Russia, and in all
countries professing the religion of the Greek
Church : they are made either of wood or of
metal, with two little folding-doors, which are
thrown open when the Bogh or idol is to be
(4) Vid. Pausan. lib. i. ubi supra.
216 ATHENS.
chap, worshipped1. Of such a nature were the shrines
alluded to in Sacred History, where Demetrius is
described as stirring up those who made silver
shrines or tabernacles for Diana9; that is to say,
little temples, or cabinets after the manner of
temples. The custom of using them has been
retained among the Roman Catholics. The first
converts to Christianity brought the use of
portable temples with them into the Christian
Church ; for, according to Socrates Scholasticus,
the Emperor Constantine carried with him a
portable temple in his expedition against the
Persians, not for the worship of any idol, but of
the true God8 : this was a kind of tent said to
resemble the tabernacle of Moses in the desert4.
Hiera of this kind were also drawn by cattle
The Philistines sent back " the Ark of the God of
Israel" in " a new cart" drawn by " two milch
(1) The pictures of Roman-Catholic churches hare preserved the
form of these shrines to a very late age ; the doors themselves being
painted, and serving, when thrown open, to exhibit a subject in three
compartments. Of this form was the famous picture of the elevation
or setting up of the Cross, by Rubens, over the high altar, in the
Church of St. Walburga, at Antwerp. There is a very large print of
this capital composition, by Witdoech, otherwise called Witkone. St.
Walburga was an English woman.
(2) Acts zix. 24.
(3) Socrates Scholasticus, lib. i. c. 18. Cantab. 1720.
(4) Ibid.
ATHENS. 217
•
kine4." The temple of Agrotes, according to chap.
Sanchoniatho was drawn by oxen. The portable
temple was also sometimes carried upon men's
shoulders : and although the " bearing" or
" taking up of Tabernacles9 are expressions used
metaphorically in Scripture for the adoration paid
to them, yet they are borrowed from a practice,
which was well known at the time, of carrying
the Tabernacle upon the shoulders of men from
one place to another. Thus the Israelites are
said to have " borne99 and to " take up99 the
" Tabernacle of Moloch6.99 Such portable temples
among the Antients were conveyed with them
to their wars, and accompanied them upon their
travels. This was the constant usage of the
Arabians1 9 Egyptian?, Trojan?, Carthaginians10,
and German?1. When settlements were made,
and cities built, they were of course deposited
in safe but conspicuous places ; in cavities
fashioned for the purpose, within the rocks on
(5) 1 Sam. c. tI. 3, 7, &c.
(6) Aww§, c. t. Psalms, &c
(7) See the authors quoted by Hottinger, Comp. Theatri Orient, c. i.
(8) ApuUius Apol. p. 60S.
(9) See Servius on JSn. tL ver. 68. Dio, lib. xl. Herodian. lib. if.
and Amm. MarceUinus, lib. xxii.
(10) See Caimet's Diet. art. Niches; and the authors referred to by
Fabricius, Bibliography Ant. c. viii. 18.
(11) Tacit.de Mor. Germ.
21B AT HSU 8.
•
chap, which their citadels stood ; or in niches, by the
vJ^Ls side of their most frequented roads. Hitra,
answering to this description, are found, at this
day, in all countries professing the Greek and
Raman- Catholic religions; before which votive
gifts are placed, as in former ages: and this
seems sufficient to explain the sort of temples
alluded to by antient authors, as being here
stationed within a niche, called the Cave of
Pan, in the face of the rock below the Acropolis
of Athens. Within this cave there formerly
statue of stood a statue of the goat-footed God ; who, on
that account, was said by Euripides1, and by
Lucian^j to have fixed his residence at Athens,
beneath the northern or Pelasgie wall of the
Acropolis : and it is rather remarkable, that in
a garden below this Grotto, at the foot of the
rock, there was discovered a marble statue of
Pan, of a size to suit the cavity, which exactly
(1) Kp. "Arovg roimnr oUrQa KiKpowiag virpac ;
Upoofiojtpor dvrpov, &c Macpdf cueXjar jfur.
Up. OW, Ma nav*£ &$vra, cat /8»/c*l *iAa?.
"Aadiigitar: aaffeti Ceerapiaa rapes,
Septentrionale in lit antrum, qaas Haeraa Yoeanaa?*
44 Safe, abi est saeeBum Panis at aim prope,"
Eunpid.inl<m.996.p.tt4. XdU.Renm. OmtaklSM.
(*) Kai ra «V Imtirim, t)v vwi rp icporaAci rr^Xiryya rwfcrar
awo\afi6§U9ocf ouctl fiucpbv vir* row UtXturymv, a. r. X.
Acciuetus, torn. VII. p. SO. Bipont. 1790.
ATHENS. 219
corresponds with the description of the antient chap.
image in the Grotto, bearing a trophy upon its
head'; for the iron cramp, by which this
burden was sustained and connected with the
mass of marble used for the lower part of the
figure, yet remains. We saw this statue upon
the spot where it was discovered ; and we
removed it to the University of Cambridge,
where it is now placed, with the other Greek
Marbles, in the Vestibule of the University
library4. The drapery afforded by the spoils
of a goat thrown over the figure is executed
in the very antient style of sculpture called
GtwohJEtruscan ; and there is great reason to
believe that this is the identical statue alluded
to by Jjucian, as before cited. Not far from
the same place there was also found the torso of
a small marble statue of Apollo, of a more dimi-
nutive size than that of Pan, but executed in a
style of sculpture equal to any thing produced
in the most splendid aera of the art. This we
also brought to England. There is certainly
(3) iMrimn. Deoram Dialog), nil. 3. Pant* et MercwrU. Btpont.
1790.
(4) An engrtYing of this statue, from a drawing by the celebrated
Flmxmun, was made for Mr. Wilkins's Antiquities of Magna Qrmcia
(p. 71). For a further account of it, see "Greek MarbUs," p. 9.
JT0.XL Comb. 1800.
220 ATHENS.
chap, something singular in such an association so
near to the Adytum, said to be tenanted by these
two Deities. The identity of the Grotto itself
was a theme of dispute among earlier travellers,
who gave to the subject more consideration
than perhaps it may seem to merit. Guilletiere
is the first of the moderns by whom it is noticed.
He had been with his companions to visit the
small chapel called Panagia Spiliotissa, or our
Lady of the Grotto, in a hollow of the rock above
the Theatre of Bacchus, at the south-east angle
of the Acropolis ; which a Greek spy, a native of
Candia, had pointed out to the Venetians as a
proper place to serve as a mine in blowing up
the citadel1. Guilletiere persuaded himself that
the Panagia was nothing less than the actual
grotto once dedicated to Apollo and Pan, which
is mentioned by Euripides in two or three of his
tragedies2. Seven years after Guilletiere9* visit,
the same cavern was examined by Wheler and
(1) Voyage &' Athens par Sr De la GuilUHere, p. 18a Paris, 1676.
(2) " Des que nous fasmes sortls de Panagia, j'obligeay nos gens
a toarner la teste pour y regarder avec plus d'attentioD, parce que je
les fls souvenir que c'estoit la eette Oroite si c616bre dans 1'antiqaite,
&c. Grace a la darete* da rocher, c'est la le plus entier de tons les
dittoes monumens qui nous sont restez de l'ancienne Athene*.
Euripide a parte" de cet antre, en deux ou trols eudroits de sea trajfetiea,"
Ibid.p.\19.
ATHENS. 221
by Span; both of whom deny that it was the chap.
Grotto of Pan, as mentioned by Guilletiere ; and
they place the real Grotto of Pan upon the
northern side of the Citadel, beneath the Pdasgic
Wall, according to the testimonies of Euripides
and of Lucian3. Chandler afterwards con-
firmed their observations4: and in this state
the question now rests; no one having since
expressed any doubt upon the subject.
As we drew near to the present entrance of
the Citadel, we passed before the facade of the
Propyuea; the old entrance to the Acropolis
between its Doric pillars being walled up. The
Turkish guard at the gate suffered us to pass,
as soon as we mentioned the name of Lusieri ;
and one of them offered to conduct us to the spot
where he was then at work. We found him in
the midst of the ruins of the Erectheum, seated
upon a heap of stones, with his drawing imple-
ments before him, equally surprised and delighted
to see us once more, and in such a place. It
happened that the very pencil which he was
(3) Bwripid. in Ion. vr. 17, 601, 036. Lucian, at before cited. See
WkeUr's Journey into Greece, p. 360. LoruL 1682. Also Voyage par
Jatah Span, torn. II. p. 07. a la Haye, 1724.
(4) Chandler's Travels in Greece, p. 50. Oxford, 1776.
222 ATHENS.
chap, then using was one of several, made by
Middleton, which the author had conveyed for
him from England to Naples many years before.
He had only two remaining : and he considered
them of so much importance to the perfection
of his designs, that he would willingly have
purchased more at an equal weight of gold;
using them only in tracing the outline, and as
sparingly as possible. The best illustration of
his remark was in a sight of the outlines he had
then finished. It might have been said of the
time he had spent in Athens, as of Apblles,
" Nulla dies sine lined ;" but such was the extra-
ordinary skill and application shewn in the
designs he was then completing, that every
grace and beauty of sculpture, every fair and
exquisite proportion, every trace of the injuries
which time had effected upen tfae building,
every vein in the marble, were visible in the
drawing ; and in such perfection, that even the
nature and qualities of the stone itself might be
recognised in the contour1. He would not hear
f 1) Whoever may hereafter he the possessor of these Drawings, will
have in the mere outlines (for it it Impossible this artist can ever finish
the collection he has made) a representation of the antiquities and
heantffol scenery of Greece, inferior to nothing but the actual tight of
them. Hitherto no Mcecenas has dignified himself by any tiring
deterring
ATHENS. 223
of our descending again from the Acropolis chap.
before the evening ; but gave us a recom-
mendation to the house of a widow, sister of the
late English Consul, where he said we might be
comfortably lodged ; and to which he promised
to conduct us, after dining with him and the
Disdar or Governor of the Citadel, in the midst
of the splendid remains of architecture and
sculpture by which we were surrounded. He
became our guide to all the different buildings ;
and began by shewing us the Parthenon.
Some workmen, employed under his direction
for the British Ambassador, were then engaged
in making preparation, by means of ropes and
pulleys, for taking down the metopes, where the
sculpture remained the most perfect. The
Disdar himself came to view the work, but with
evident marks of dissatisfaction ; and Lusierx
told us that it was with great difficulty he
could accomplish this part of his undertaking,
from the attachment the Turks entertained
towards a building which they had been
deterring the title of a patron of such excellence. Many ha?e bought
hfe designs when he could be induced to part with them, bj which
mm he haa bare! j obtained subsistence ; and he is too passionately
attached to the sources which Athens has afforded to hit genius, to
Grtte*, even for the neglect which, in bis letters to the author,
ipkina of having there experienced.
224 ATHENS.
chap, accustomed to regard with religious venera
and had converted into a mosque. We
fessed that we participated the Moslem fee
in this instance, and would gladly see an o
enforced to preserve rather than to dee
such a glorious edifice. After a short 1
spent in examining the several parts of
temple, one of the workmen came to inl
Don Battista that they were then going to 1<
one of the metopes. We saw this fine piec
sculpture raised from its station between
triglyphs : but the workmen endeavourin;
give it a position adapted to the projected
of descent, a part of the adjoining masonry
loosened by the machinery ; and down c
the fine masses of Pentelican marble, scatte
their white fragments with thundering i
among the ruins. The Disdar, seeing
could no longer restrain his emotions ;
actually took his pipe from his mouth, ;
letting fall a tear, said, in a most emphai
tone of voice, " TiXog V9 positively declai
that nothing should induce him to consen
any further dilapidation of the buildi
(1) This man was, however, poor, and had a family to so]
consequently, he was omble to withstand the temptations wl
little money, accompanied by splendid promises, offered to the i
sities of his situation. So far from adhering to his resolution, I
aftei
ATHENS. 225
Looking up, we saw with regret the gap that chap
had been made j which all the ambassadors of
•towards gradually prevailed upon to allow all the finest pieces of
•eslpture belonging to the Parthenon to be taken down ; and succeed-
ing travellers speak with concern of the injuries the building has
•■Waed, exclusively of the loss caused by the removal of the metopes.
One example of this nature may be mentioned; which, while it shews
tta havoc that has been carried on, will also prove the want of taste
aid attar barbarism of the undertaking. In one of the angles of the
pediment which was over the eastern facade of the temple, there was
ft tone's head, supposed to be intended for the horse of Neptune
tang from the earth, when struck by his trident, during his alterca-
ti* with Minerva for the possession of Attica, The head of this
•ninal had been so judiciously placed by Phidias, that, to a spectator
Wow, it seemed to be rising from an abyss, foaming, and struggling
tsbont from its confined situation, with a degree of energy suited to
A* greatness and dignity of its character. All the perspective of the
**Jp<*r*if such an expression be admissible), and certainly ail the
touony and fitness of its proportions, and all the effect of attitude and
tat of composition, depended upon the work being viewed precisely
ftt the distance in which Phidias designed that it should be seen. Its
ft&oval, therefore, from its situation, amounted to nothing less than
fa destruction : — take it down, and all the aim of the sculptor is in-
tutly frustrated ! Could any one believe that this was actually done ?
ft** that it was done, too, in the name of a nation vain of its distinc-
tfo in the Fine Arts ? Nay more, that in doing this, floding the
r*»otil of this piece of sculpture could not be effected without destroy -
% the entire angle of the pediment, the work of destruction was
•flowed to proceed even to this extent also ? Thus the form of the
fcftple hae sustained a greater injury than it had already experienced
fa& the Venetian artillery; and the horses head -has been removed,
to k placed where it exhibits nothing of its original effect: like the
>ctyuiition said to have been made by another Nobleman, who, being
kttghted at a puppet-show, bought Punch, und was chagrined to find
*toa he carried him home, that the figure had lost all its humour.
Yet
VOL. VI. Q
226 ATHENS.
chap, the earth, with all the sovereigns they represent
aided by every resource that wealth and talen
can now bestow, will never again repair. A
to our friend Lvsieri, it is hardly necessary t
exculpate him ; because he could only obey th
orders he had received, and this he did wit
manifest reluctance : neither was there a work
man employed in the undertaking, among th
artists sent out of Borne for that purpose, wh
did not express his concern that such havo
should be deemed necessary, after moulds an
Tet we are seriously told, (Memorandum, p. 8. Land. 1811,) that tl
mischief bat been done with a view to " rescue these specimens
sculpture from impending rain:" then, why not exert the same raft
ence which was employed in removing them, to induce the Tvrti
Government to adopt measures for their effectual preservation! J
no ! a wiser scheme was in agitation : it was at first attempted to ha
them all mended by some modern artist ! ! ! (See Mentor, p. 39.) Fro
this calamity they were rescued by the good taste of Canova. (Ikk
The sight of them (Mernor. p. 42.) " so ri vetted and agitated tl
feelings of Mrs. Siddons, the pride of theatrical representation, as a
tsally to draw tears from her eyes." And who marvels at s»
emotion ? ,
" Cold is the heart, (air Greece ! that looks on thee.
Nor feels as lovers o'er the dust they lov'd ;
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defac'd, thy mouldering shrines remov'd
By British hands, which it had best behov'd
To guard those relics — ne'er to be restor'd.
Curst be the hour when from their isle they rov'd,
And once again thy hapless bosom gor'd.
And snatch'd thy shrinking Gods to Northern climes abhorr'd "
ChUde Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto II. 15. LondL 181?-
ATHENS. 227
casts had been already made of all the sculpture chap.
which it was designed to remove. The author ^-y^/
would gladly have avoided the introduction of
this subject; but as he was an eye-witness of
these proceedings, it constitutes a part of the du-
ties he has to fulfil in giving the narrative of his
travels ; and if his work be destined to survive
him, it shall not, by its taciturnity with regard
to the spoliation of the Athenian temples, seem
to indicate any thing like an approval of the
measures which have tended so materially
towards their destruction.
To a person who has seen the ruins of Home. Compari-
* ' sod ba-
the first suggestion made by the sight of the build- ***** the
ings in the Acropolis is that of the infinite supe- and Roman
. r r Buildings.
nority of the Athenian architecture. It possesses
the greatness and majesty of the Egyptian, or
of the antient Etruscan style, with all the ele-
gant proportions, the rich ornaments, and the
discriminating taste of the most splendid sera
of the Arts. "Accustomed as we were/' said
Stuart1 9 in speaking of the Parthenon, "to the
antient and modern magnificence of Rome, and,
by what we had heard and read, impressed
(I) Antiquities olAthmt, vol. II. p. 0. Lond. 1787.
Q 2
230 ATHENS.
chap, harmony, elegance, execution, beauty, proportion,
the Parthenon stands a chef-(Fceuvre ; every
portion of the sculpture by which it is so highly
decorated has all the delicacy of a camio : but
still there are faults in the building, and proofs
of negligence, which are not found in the tem-
ples of Ptestum ; and these Lusieri considered as
striking evidences of the state of public morals
in the gay days of Pericles ; for he said it was
evident that he had been cheated by his work-
men. He pointed those defects out to us.
Above the architrave, behind the metopes and
triglyphs, there are vacuities sufficiently spa-
cious for a person to walk in, which, in some
instances, and perhaps in all, had been care-
lessly filled with loose materials ; but at Pcestxtm,
the same parts of the work are of solid stone,
particularly near the angles of those temples;
which consist of such prodigious masses, that
it is inconceivable how they were raised and
adjusted. In other parts of the Parthenon there
are also superfluities ; which are unknown in
the buildings of Pastum, where nothing super-
fluous can be discerned. These remarks, as
they were made by an intelligent artist, who,
with leisure and abilities for the inquiry, has
paid more attention to the subject than any one
IV.
ATHENS. 231
else, we have been careful to preserve. For chap.
our own parts, in viewing the Parthenon, we
were so much affected by its solemn appear-
ance, and so much dazzled by its general
splendour and magnificence, that we should
never have ventured this critical examination of
the parts composing it ; nor could we be per-
suaded entirely to acquiesce in the opinion
thus founded upon a comparison of it with the
Posidonian and JEginetan buildings. Often as
it has been described, the spectator who for
the first time approaches it finds that nothing
he has read can give any idea of the effect
produced in beholding it. Yet was there once
found in England a writer of eminence, in his
profession as an architect1, who recommended
the study of Raman antiquities in Italy and in
France, in preference to the remains of Grecian
architecture in Athens ; and who, deciding
upon the works of Phidias, Callicrates, and Ictinus,
without ever having had an opportunity to
examine them but in books and prints, ventured
(1) See a Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture, by
Sir William Chambers, pp. 19, 21, &c. Third edition. LontL 1791.—
Alto Beveley't Reply, in his Pref. to the Third Volume of Stuart's Antiq.
at Athens, p. 10. Lond. 1794.
232 ATHENS.
chap, to maintain that the Parthenon was not so
«• ■ /_- considerable an edifice as the Church of St.
Martin m London; thereby affording a remark-
able proof of the impossibility of obtaining from
any written description, or even from engraved
representation, any adequate idea of the build-
ings of Antient Greece; compared with whose
stupendous works, the puny efforts of modern
art are but as the labours of children.
By means of the scaffolds raised against the
Parthenon, for the Formatori, and for other artists
who were engaged in moulding and making
drawings from the sculpture upon the frieze,
we were enabled to ascend to all the higher
parts of the building, and to examine, with the
minutest attention, all the ornaments of this
glorious edifice. The sculpture on the metopes,
representing the Combats of the Centaurs and
LapithcBy is in such bold relief, that the figures
are all of them statues. Upon coming close to
Caoie of the work, and examining the state of the marble,
riei suiT it was evident that a very principal cause of
Se scalp- the injuries it bad sustained was owing, not, as
p^the^. i4 has been asserted1, to " the zeal of the early
(1) Memorandum on the subject of the Earl of Elgin's PamiHi
in Greece, p. 1 1. Land. 181 1 .
ATHENS. 233
Christian*, the barbarism of the Turks, or to chap.
IV.
the explosions which took place when the
temple was used as a powder magazine," but
to the decomposition of the stone itself, in con-
sequence of the action of the atmosphere during
so many ages. The mischief has originated in
the sort of marble which was used for the
building ; this, not being entirely homogeneous,
is characterized by a tendency to exfoliate
when long exposed to air and moisture. Any
person may be convinced of this, who will exa-
mine the specimens of sculpture which have
been since removed to this country from the
Parthenon; although, being expressly selected
as the most perfect examples of the work, they
do not exhibit this decomposition so visibly as
the remaining parts of the building. But
(3) In the little Tract which the author published in 1803, con-
taining the " Testimonies of different Authors respecting the Statue
tf Ceres/' p. 4, and also in his Account of the " Cambridge Marbles,"
Published in 1809, p. 15. he attributed to " the zeal qfthe early Chris-
Hans* a part of the injury done to the Temple at Eleusis. He has
tee been much amused by finding the same expression adopted by
file writer of the Earl of Elgin's " Memorandum" above cited, where
the u early Christians" are made also responsible for the injury done
to the metopes of the Parthenon (See Memorandum, p. 11). Now,
abating the long arms, or the long ladder*, which the said Christians
most hare called into action to reach the entablature of this building,
it does not appear highly probable that the very people who conse-
crated the Parthenon, as Wheler says, " to serve God in," would
take so much pains to disfigure and to destroy their place of worship.
234 ATHENS.
chap, throughout the metopes, and in all the exquisite
sculpture of the frieze which surrounded the
outside of the cell of the temple, this may be
observed : a person putting his hand behind
the figures, or upon the plinth, where the parts
have been less exposed to the atmosphere, may
perceive the polished surface, as it was left
when the work was finished, still preserving a
high degree of smoothness; but the exterior
parts of the stone have been altered by wea-
thering ; and where veins of schistus in the
marble have been affected by decomposition,
considerable parts have fallen off. Yet, to ope-
rate an effect of this nature, it required the
lapse of twenty-three centuries ; and we may
fairly conclude that what remained had under-
gone sufficient trial to have continued unaltered
for a series of ages : at all events, it would have
been safe from the injuries to which the finest
parts of the sculpture have been since so
lamentably exposed, when they were torn from
the temple, either to be swallowed by the waves
of Cythera, or to moulder under the influence of
a climate peculiarly qualified to assist their pro-
gress towards destruction1.
(1) " The Ambassador has carried off every rich morsel of sculpture
that was to be found in the Parthenon : so that he, in future, who
wishes to see Athens, must make a journey to Scotland.** Colonel
Squire's MS. Correspondence.
ATHENS. 235
It is with reluctance that the author omits a chap.
iv.
description of the whole of the sculpture upon
the frieze beneath the ceiling of the Peripterus*.
To an artist, the boldness and masterly execu- splendid
tkm of the metopes may be more interesting ; but f*$™™'
a sight of the splendid solemnity of the whole )j£#l^r"
Panathenaic Festival, represented by the best
artists of Antient Greece, in one continued pic-
ture above three feet in height, and originally
six hundred feet in length, of which a very con-
siderable portion now remains, is alone worth
a journey to Athens ; nor will any scholar deem
the undertaking to be unprofitable, who should
▼isit Greece for this alone. The whole popula- j^tf-
tkra of the antient city, animated by the bustle ^°r£f tbe
and business of the Panathenaa, seems to be
exhibited by this admirable work ; persons of
other sex and of every age, priests, charioteers,
horsemen, cattle, victors, youths, maidens,
▼ictims, gods, and heroes, all enter into the
procession ; every countenance expresses the
earnestness and greatness of the occasion ; and
every magnificence of costume, and varied dis-
position of the subject, add to the effect of the
representation. It is somewhere said of Phidias,
(2) For a fall a count of it, sec Stuarfs Athens, vol. II. p. 12.
Land, 1787.
236 ATHENS*.
chap, that, as a sculptor, he particularly excelled in
^v^ his statues of horses : perhaps some notion may
be conceived of the magic of his art, when it is
related, that of a hundred horses introduced by
him into the Panathenaic pomp, there are not
two, either in the same attitude, or which are
not characterized by a marked difference of
expression. Some circumstances were made
known to us by our being able to examine the
marble closely, which we did not know before ;
although they had been alluded to by Stuart1:
the bridles of the horses were originally of
gilded bronze ; this we perceived by the holes
left in the stone for affixing the metal, and also
by little bits of the bronze itself, which the Forma*
tothfrnus- tor* ^a(i found in the work. We should hardly
have believed that such an article of dress as
the leathern boot, with its top turned over the
calf of the leg, was worn by the antient Athe-
nian, as well as by English cavaliers, if we had
. not seen the Cothurnus so represented upon
the figures of some of the young horsemen in
this procession ; and as coxcomically adapted
to the shape of the leg, and set off with as great
nicety, as for a Newmarket jockey. Another
singular piece of foppery, worn also by the
(I) Antiq. of Athens, vol. II. p. 14. Loud. 1787.
ATHENS. 237
Athenian beaux, consisted of a light gipsey hat, chap.
perhaps made of straw, tied with ribbands ^^
under the chin. We noticed the figure of a *nd p<£?"
O SU8 OP r%~
young horseman with one of these hats, who****-
seemed, from his appearance in the procession,
to be a person of distinction, curbing a galloping
•teed ; but the wind had blown the hat from his
head, and, being held by the ribbands about
the neck, it hung behind the rider, as if floating
in the air : the sculptor having evidently availed
himself of this representation to heighten the
appearance of action in the groupe, and nothing
could be more spirited. That this kind of hat
was considered as a mark of distinction, seems
to be probable, from the circumstance of its
being still worn by the Patriarchs of the Greek
church*: it appears upon the head of the Patri-
arch of Constantinople, as he is represented by a
wood-cut in the work of Martin Crusius* ; but
perhaps, in the latter instance, it should rather
be considered as the petasus*, than the pileus.
Also, by attending to its appearance upon
Grecian vases of terra cotta, we may perceive
that it was worn by no common individuals.
(*) See Vol. I. of these Travels, Chap. IX. p. 194. Octavo edition.
0) Twrco-Grmcio, p. 106. Basil, 1683.
<*) Vid. Lipsiusde Amphitheat. c 10.
238 ATHENS.
chap. A beautiful figure of Act(eon9 with this kind of
TV
hat, is preserved upon one of the Greek Marbles
in the University Library at Cambridge: and
another representation of the same person,
similarly attired, appears upon the Neapolitan
Vase*, where there is also an effigy of Castor
with the pileus upon his head ; for Actceon, in
both instances, is figured with his head tin-
covered, the hat hanging, by its ribbands, in
graceful negligence behind his shoulders ; and
after this manner it is more frequently repre-
sented. Among the Romans, who rarely used
any covering for the head, the pileus, when
worn, was the distinguishing badge of freed-
men ; and the use of it, as a privilege, was
granted to persons who had obtained their
liberty. In the Heroic age no kind of hats
were worn, if we may judge from the Poems of
Homer, where there is no allusion to any such
article of apparel. Indeed, Eustathhis affirms
that the Romans derived their custom of going
(1) This marble represents the body of an Amphora, about three
feet in length, from the shore of the PropontU. It was presented
to the University by Mr. Spencer Smith, late Minister Plenipotentiary
at the Ottoman Porte, and brother of Sir Sidney Smith. The sculp-
ture is in low relief, but it is very antient.
(2) Now in the possession of Mr. Edioards, of Harrow, late book-
seller in Pall Mall, London.
ATHEVS. 239
bareheaded firom the Greek?: hence it may CF/P*
almost be proved, that in this bas-relief, (as >— -v-^
nothing was ever introduced by antient artists
into their designs without some symbolic allu-
sion,) the hat was intended as a distinguishing
token4; and its appearance is the more inter-
esting, because it has been the opinion of anti-
quaries that this frieze contained the portraits
of the leading characters at Athens, during the
Pelopannesian war; particularly of Pericles, Phi-
dku, Socrates, and Alcibiade&.
We saw with the same advantage all the Practice of
remaining sculpture of this stately edifice ; Rioting
visiting it often afterwards to examine the dif- -,
ferent parts more leisurely. Among the remains
of the sculpture iu the western pediment, which
is in a very ruined state, the artists had
observed, not only the traces of paint with
which the statues had antiently been covered,
but also of gilding. It was usual to gild the
(3) Vid. Eustath. in Homer. Odyss. lib. i.
(4) It to still bo considered at Athens. Guiiletiere, in giving an
account of the Veechiados or Elders, selected out of the principal
Christian families, forming a part of the jurisdiction of the city, says
they are distinguished from the other citizens by wearing " little
hats*9 These are his words :— ° Let Veechiados portent de petiis cha-
peaux, pour Us distinguer des autres habitant" Voyage d?Ath£nest
p. 159. Porif, 1676.
(6) See Memorandum on the subject of the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits
in Greece, p. 12. Land. 1811.
240 ATHENS.
chap, hair of the statues which represented Deities,
v^v^w/ and sometimes other parts of the bodies. This
practice remained to a very late period of the
art, as it has been already shewn in a former
part of this work1. During an excavation
which Lusieri had carried on here, he had dis-
covered the antient pavement, in its entire
state ; consisting of the same white marble as
the temple. We found an Inscription, which
proves how antient the custom was of pro-
nouncing the Greek B like the Raman V, by the
manner of writing a name which must have
been their Victorinus : " Phaneas, Hiero-
PHANT, SON OF VlCTORINUS."
♦AN€ IACTHCBIKTo>P€ I
NOY|€ PO*ANTHC
Marbles Among the ruins of this and of other buildings
useil Id the . . . °
Acropolis, in the Acropolis, we noticed the fragments of
almost every kind of marble, and of the most
beautiful varieties of breccia ; but particularly of
the verd-antique, entire columns of which had
once adorned the Erectheum. Under a heap of
loose stones and rubbish in the centre of it, we
discovered the broken shaft of a verd-anHgwp
pillar of uncommon beauty : this we purchased
of the Disdar ; and having with great difficnlftk
— — - — ■ i i
(1) See Vol. V. Chap. IV. p. 805 of the 8vo. Edition oTUcm *m
removed it from the Aeropo&r »f sen: r. w "Xat.
England*. A bluish-grey limestone was bjsd .*--.•-•»•
used in some of the works : particular! y in the
ezqaisite ornaments of the ErecLhiiem. where «npu«-
the frieze of the temple and of its porticoes are t™. a*t*
not of marble, like the reft of the building, bat
of this sort of slate-like limestone : the tym-
panum of the pediment is likewise of the same
stone ; a singular circumstance truly, and
requiring some explanation*. It resembles the
limestone employed in the walls of the Cella of
the Temple of Ceres at EUusu, and in buildings
before the use of marble was known for pur*
poses of architecture ; such, for example, as
the sort of stone employed in the Temple of
Apollo at Phigalia*, and in other edifices of equal
antiquity : it effervesces briskly in acids, and
has all the properties of common compact lime-
stone ; except that it is bard enough to cut glass,
(S) It ia now Id the Vcallbulo of the Unlrenitj Library at Cambridge.
See " Greek Harblea,- No. XVII. p. SS. Comb. 1809.
(S) For thla fact tbe anthor ii indebted to Mr. WiObu, author of
taftAaUqaUleaof WafM Qrmda,**.
(4) Specimen- of thla alata-lDu H-M-tfaa -ma brooght to the
lather for the Hlneralogica! Lecture at Cambriilgr, from tbe Temple
af the PUffaUan Apollo In the Morea, l\ Mr.Walpolr. Ilk alio fouii'l
apo* ParaaMnu, and in other parts of Grttei t <\>. -i. , ..
of ppnunu bteakiw t!i a -oucho'idal fraol ugh <„
242 ATHENS.
ci*ap- and, of course, is susceptible of a fine polish ;
^^^^ exhibiting a flat conchoidal fracture, which is
somewhat splintery. We could not discover a
single fragment of porphyry ; which isremarkable,
as this substance was almost always used by
the Antients in works of great magnificence.
Among the loose fragments dispersed in the
Acropolis, we found a small piece of marble
with an inscription, but in so imperfect a state,
that it is only worth notice as a memorial of the
place where it was found, and in its allusion to
of the Pry- the Prytanhim^ which is the only legible part of
n um. .^ rji^ ^ Prytantum, where the written laws
of Solon were kept2, was not situate near to
the spot, but in the lower city, may be easily
proved. Yet some have believed that it was in
the Acropolis ; owing to that remarkable passage
in Pausanias, which set at rest the mistaken
opinion of Ptolemy's importation of the worship
of Serapis into Egypt ; Memphis having been
the original source of this superstition, both for
the Alexandrians and the Athenians?. After
(1) Now in the Vestibule at Cambridge. See " Greek Marfakf,"
No. XXX. p. 62. Camb. 1809.
(2) U\ri<jlov & IJpvraviUv forty, kv <f vdpot n oi SAwvoc **** 7*"
ypappivoi. Pau#onue, lib. Lc 18. p. 41. Lips. 1606.
(3) See Vol. V. of these Travels, Chap. VI 1. p. 368. (Note**. OetatP
edition.
ATHENS. 243
speaking of the Prytaneum, Pausanias says4, c^p-
•• Hence, to those going towards the lower parts v^v^
of the city, the Temple of Serapis presents itself,
whose worship the Athenians received from
Ptolemy:9'' adding, " Among the Egyptian fanes
of this Deity, the most renovmed, indeed, is that
of Alexandria, but the most antient that of
Memphis." But, in answer to this, it may
be observed, that the same author also ascends
from the Prytanbum, along the street of the Tri-
pods, towards the Propylcea*. Moreover, it is re-
corded, that the tablets of the laws which had
been preserved in the Citadel were afterwards
removed to the Pry tanSum6 ; and they were termed
rowc KarwOev vo/iovc, because they were kept in the
lower city.
With regard to the Erectheum, which is ErecMum.
situate at the distance of about a hundred and
fifty feet to the north of the Parthenon^ it has
generally been described as consisting of three
(4) 'EimvOtv ioixriv ig rd kclt* rfc xo\t «c, Zap aw it 6^ ianv Upbv,
*9 'A0ijrauw xapd TlroXtpaiov Qi6v iotiyayovro. AlyvxriotQ U Upd
IfawtotolnfarkaraTOv fuv lartp 'A\iKavtytv<riv, ApxaiSrarov $k ir
Mfftfci. PtfiiMfit*, lib. i.c. 18. p. 42. Lips. 1606.
(&)*E*rt ii oioQ dxo tov Upvravtinv caXovpci'if Tptjradfg. PattMit.
lihuL c. SO. p. 46. Lip*. 1606.
(6) Jul. Pollux, lib. viii. c. 10. Am$t. 1706.
r 2
244 ATHENS.
chap, contiguous temples; that ofErectheus, of Minerva
v-^y-w Polios, and of Pandrosus. Stuart considered the
eastern part of the building alone as being the
JErectheum ; the part to the westward as that
of Minerva; and the adjoining edifice on the south
side, distinguished by the Caryatides supporting
the entablature and roof, as the chapel which
was dedicated to the Nymph Pandrosus1. This
opinion has been adopted by other writers2: but
it seems more consistent with the description
and allusions to this building in the works of
antient authors, to suppose that the whole struc-
ture was called Erectheum, consisting only of
of Pandro- tw0 contiguous temples ; that of Minerva Polios,
™inerva w^ *ts Port*co towards the east ; and that of
Poiioi. Pandrosus towards the west, with its two porti-
coes standing by the north and south angles, the
entrance to the Pandroseum being on the northern
side8. PausaniasA calls the whole building
EPEX9EI0N, and he decidedly describes it, not
(1 ) Antiq. of Athens, vol. II. chap. 2. p. 16. Lond. 1787.
(2) " Near the Parthenon are three temples." (Memorandum of the
Earl qf Elgin's Pursuits in Greece, p. 23. Lond. 181 J. ) See also
Chandler's Trav. in Greece t chap. 1 1. p. 52. Oaf. 1786, &c. Sec.
(3) See a Plan of these buildings by Mr. W. Wilkins, author of the
Antiquities of Magna Gracia, &c. as engraved for Mr. Walpoie's
Selections from the MS. Journals of Travellers in the Levant.
(4) 'Ear i & Kai oiKnua 'Up'ixQuov KaXovutvov. Vaxtsan. lib. i. c. 26
p. 6*2. Lips. 1696.
IV.
A f H E N S. 245
& of a triple, but as of a duple form5 ; and in the chap.
succeeding chapter he mentions the two parts
of which it consisted, naming them the Temples
of Pandrosus and Minerva6. The sepulchral
origin of the Parthenon, as of all the Athenian
temples, has been already proved ; and the same
historian who has preserved a record of the
situation of the sepulchre ofCecrops also informs us
that the tomb of Ericthonius existed in the Temple
of Minerva Polios7. The Turks had made a
powder-magazine of one of the vestibules of this
building; so that it was necessary to creep
through a hole in the wall in order to see the
finest specimen of Ionic architecture now exist-
ing : it was an inner door of one of the temples ;
and it has been judiciously remarked8 of the
sculpture everywhere displayed in this edifice,
that " it is difficult to conceive how marble has
been wrought to such a depth and brought to so
(5) Kai BtirXovv yap iari rd ofcjjsia. Ibid.
(6) Ty ray ik rifc '\9rjvdc Hav$p6<rov vadg <rvvi\fiQ tan. Ibid, c
*7. p. «4. Zips. 1606.
(7) 'AOqvyai 8k iv 6.Kpox6\ut KiKpoirog, wg <prjaiv 'Avrto^oj Iv ry
runf urropi&v ri Sal 'EporOoviOf ; oh\i iv rtf viif rijs Ilo\ia$OQ
iflnrrau €i A then is autem in ipsa pariter Acropoli, Cecropis, ut An-
twehos Historian! ra nono script um reliquit. Quid porrd Ericthonius ?
aoane m Poliadis templo sepultus est?" Clementit AUxandrini Cohor-
taiioad Gentes, torn. I. p. 39. Oxon. 1715.
(d) Memorandum, fitc. p. 24. Land. 1811.
246 ATHENS.
chap, sharp an edge, the different ornaments having all
v^yv the delicacy of works in metal." Lusieri, for whom
and for the other artists this passage had been
opened, said, that he considered the workmanship
of the frieze and cornice, and of the Ionic capital*,
as the most admirable specimens of the art of
sculpture in the world1: he came daily to examine
it, with additional gratification and wonder. He
directed our attention to the extraordinary state
of preservation in which the Caryatides of the
Pandroseum still remained : passing the hand over
the surface of the marble upon the necks of
these statues, it seemed to retain its original
polish in the highest perfection. Within this
or the building, so late as the second century, was
preserved the olive-tree mentioned by Apollodorus*,
(1) Mr. Cripps has preferred, hi bit MS. Journal, a note, dic-
tated by Lusieri, relative to a vary curious discovery made by that
artist with regard to the sculptured ornaments of the Erecthium.
The author also well remembers its being pointed out to him by the
same person, upon the spot Lusieri found among the most delicate
intertezture of the wreaths and foliage, small brass nails, and bits of
antique glass, which had been fastened on to heighten the general
delicacy and exquisite finishing of the work. This circumstance has
been noticed by no other traveller. Perhaps, according to oar notions
of taste, as founded upon the Grecian School, these works appear
more beautiful in their present nakedness than they would have done
if we had beheld them as they were originally finished, when tbey
were painted and gilded, and studded with glass beads, or invested
with other extraneous ornament.
(2) Vid. Pausan. lib. i. c. 27. p. 64. Lips. 1686.
ATHENS. 247
was said to be as old as the foundation of chap.
iv.
die citadel. Stuart supposed it to have stood
in the portico of the Temple of Pandrosus (called
by bita the Pandroseum), from the circumstance
of the air necessary for its support, which could
here be admitted between the Caryatides ; but
instances of trees that have been preserved
unto a very great age, within the interior of an
edifice inclosed by walls, may be adduced.
The building was of course erected subsequently
to the growth of the tree, and was in some
degree adapted to its form. A very curious
relic of this kind may be seen at Cawdor
Castle, nenr Invemess/m Scotland; in which build*
mg a hawthorn-tree of great antiquity is very
remarkably preserved. Tradition relates, that
the original proprietor of the edifice was directed
by a dream to build a castle exactly upon the
spot where the tree was found ; and this was
done in such a manner as to leave no doubt hut
that the tree existed long before the structure
was erected. The trunk of this tree, with the
knotty protuberances left by its branches, is still
shewn1 in a vaulted apartment at the bottom of
the principal tower : its roots branch out beneath
(3) The author saw it in 1797. The Dame of the building, as it is
now pronounced, is not Cawdor, but Colder Castle.
248 ATHENS.
chap, the floor, and its top penetrates the vaulted arch
S^s**' of stone above, in such a manner that any
person seeing it is convinced the masonry was
adjusted to the shape and size of the plant,
a space being left for its admission through the
top of the vault. The hawthorn-tree of Cawdor
Castle, and the traditionary superstition to which
it has owed its preservation during a lapse of
centuries, may serve as a parallel to the history
of the Athenian Olive, by exhibiting an example
nearly similar ; the one being considered as the
Palladium of an antient Highland Clan1, and the
other regarded as the most sacred relic of the
Cecropian Citadel. Within the Erecthhm was the
Weil. Well of salt water, also shewn as a mark of the
contest for Attica between Neptune and Minerva?.
This well is mentioned by Wheler*, who could
not obtain permission to see it : he was assured
that it was " almost dry" when he visited the
(1) It had been a custom, from time immemorial, for guests in the
castle to assemble around this tree, and drink "Success to the haw-
thorn" or, in other words, " Prosperity to the beam of the house of
Cawdor :" upon the principle observed still in Wales, of figuratively
connecting the upright prop or beam, which, in old houses, extended
from the floor to the roof, with the main-stem or master of a family.
The first toast after dinner in a Welch mansion is, generally, " The
chief beam of the house.**
(2) Pausan. lib. i. c. 26. Lips. 1696.
(3) Journey into Greece, p. 364. Lond. 1682.
V
•ATHENS. 349
Acropolis : but before Wheler arrived in A then*, chap.
it had been seen and very curiously described by
Guilletiere, whose account of the notions enter-
tained concerning it by the inhabitants exactly
corresponds with all that Pausanias had related
of its antient history4. The existence of the
well, in such a remarkable situation, identifies
the JErecthhtm better than any proof derived
from the present appearance of the building.
We dined with Signor Zusieri and the artists
who were his fellow-labourers in the Acropolis >
upon a boiled kid and some rice. Honey from
Mount Hymettus was served, of such extraor-
dinary toughness and consistency, although
quite transparent, that the dish containing it
might be turned with its bottom upwards without
spilling a drop ; and the surface of it might also
be indented with the edge of a knife, yielding to
the impression without separation, like a mass
of dough. As an article of food it is reckoned
(4) " Au sortir da temple noas vtmes, a cinquante pas de la, ce puys
tetebre, dont on a toojoura parte1 comme d'ane des merveilles de la
latere ; et adjourd'hoy les Athlniens le content poor une des pins
carienaes raretez de leur pays. Son eau est salee,et a la couleur de celle
as lamer: toates les ibis que le ventduroidy souffle, die est agitle, et
bit an grand bruit dans le iond du puys.*' Voyage d'AtfUnes, p. 298.
* Paris, 1675.
f
i
i
260 ATHENS.
chap, yery heating : and persons who eat much of it
v^-vw are liable to fever. We tasted the wine of
Athens, which is unpleasant to those who are
not accustomed to it, from the quantity of resin
and lime infused as substitutes for brandy,
After dinner we examined the remains of the
Propyl™. Propyuea ; concerning which we have little to
add to the remarks already published. Over the
entrance may be seen one of those enormous
slabs of marble, called marble beams by Wheler1;
and to which Pausanias particularly alluded,
when, in describing the Propylsea, he says, that,
even in his time, nothing surpassing the beauty
of the workmanship, or the magnitude of the
stones used in the building, had ever been seen*.
We have since compared the dimensions of this
stab with those of an architrave of much greater
size, namely that which covers the entrance to
the great sepulchre at Mycence ; for it is re-
markable that Pausanias, who would have men-
tioned the fact if he had seen the latter, gives a
very detailed account of the ruins of that city,
and yet takes no notice of the most prodigious
mass perhaps ever raised for any purpose of
(1) Journey into Greece, Book V. p. 869. Land. 1C82.
(2) Td 8k UpoirvXaia \l9ov Xivkov ri)v 6pofr)v f^ii, icai ro<x/iy ral
luyiOttrAv XlBuv pixt" 7* «" */*™ *potixt* Pausanuc Attica, c. 21.
p. 51. Lips. 16U0.
ATHENS. 251
architecture, and which is nearly four times as chap.
large* as any of the stones that so much
his admiration in viewing the Propykea.
magnificent building, fronting the only
entrance to the Citadel, has also experienced some
of the effects of the same ill-judged rapacity
which was levelled against the Parthenon. If
the influence of a better spirit do not prevent
a repetition of similar "Pursuits in Greece?
Athens will sustain more damage in being
visited by travellers, calling themselves persons
of taste, than when it was forgotten by the world,
and entirely abandoned to its barbarian pos-
sessore : in a few years, the traveller even upon
the spot must be content to glean his intelligence
from the representation afforded by books of
Travels, if he should be desirous to know what
remained of the Fine Arts so lately as the time
(3) The slab at Mycence is of breccia, twenty-seven feet long,
seventeen feet wide, and above four feet and a half in thickness.
That which remains at the Propyl&a is of white marble, cut with the
utmost precision and evenness : its length is seventeen feet nino
inches. The former has quite an JEgyptian character: the latter
bespeaks the finer art of a much later period in history. But the slab
of marble at the Propylcea is not the largest even in Athens ; an archi-
trave belonging to the Temple of Jupiter Olympius exceeds it in cubical
dimensions : the length of this architrave equals twenty-two feet six
inches; its width three feet; aud its height six feet six inches. See
Stmrt'i Athens; Pre/, to vol. III. p. 9. Land. 1794.
4
i
262 ATHENS.
chap. In which the city was visited by Whelet, by
IV.
Chandler, or by Stuart* We afterwards exa-
Waiifl mined the remains of the original walls of the
of the . & 7
Acropolis. Acropolis ; and observed some appearances in the
work which had not at that time, so far as our
information extended, been noticed by preceding
travellers. Those walls exhibit three distinct
periods of construction ; that is to say, the
masonry of modern times in the repairs ; a style of
building which can only be referred to the age of
Chnon, or of Pericles ; and the antient Pelasgic
work, as mentioned by JLucian1. This was pointed
out to us by Lusieri; but the circumstance which
had escaped his notice, which we afterwards
ascertained, was, that a row of triglyphs, and
intervening metopes, had been continued all
round the upper part of the walls, immediately
beneath the coping. Other travellers have since
observed and mentioned the same fact8: heuce
it is evident, from the circumference of the
Acropolis being thus characterized by symbols of
sacred architecture, that the whole peribolus was
considered as one vast and solemn sanctuary.
We have an instance of the same kind of sanc-
tuary in modern times, and in our own age.
(1) Bit Accusatus, torn. VII. p 60. Bipont.VdQ*
(2) Memorandum, &c. p. 28. Land. 181 1 .
ATHENS. 253
The Kremlin at Moscow, the Acropolis of a city chap.
whose inhabitants have preserved, with their v^v^
religion, many a remnant of Grecian manners,
is in like manner held sacred by the people ; and
no person is permitted to pass the " Holy Gate"
leading to the interior, but with his head un-
covered3.
We then descended to visit the Odeum of odium qf
Regilla.
Regilla, (the building we had passed in the
morning,) at the foot of the rock of the Acro-
polis, and upon its south-western side4. The
remains of this edifice are those which Wkeler
and all former travellers, excepting Chandler,
even to the time of Stuart, have described as
the Theatre of Bacchus. Chandler consi-
dered it as the Odium of Pericles, rebuilt by
Herodes Atticus. But Pausanias, speaking of the
Odium erected by Herodes, in memory of his
wife, mentions it as an original structure. It
was therefore distinct both from the edifice
erected by Pericles and from the Theatre of
Bacchus ; so that, perhaps, no doubt will here-
after be entertained upon the subject, so far as
(3) See Vol. I. of these Travels, Chap. VII. p. 149. Octavo Edit.
(4) See the Plan of Athens, engraved as a Vignette to this Chapter.
254 ATHENS.
this building is concerned1. All the remaining
parts of this most costly theatre are, first, three
rows of circular arches, one row above another,
facing the south-west ; and these now constitute
an out-work of the fortress, but originally they
belonged to the exterior face of the Scene :
secondly, the Coilon for the seats of the spec-
tators, at present almost choked with soiK
(1) See the Vignette to this Chapter. The Odeum of Pericles was
on the south-east side, and, according to Vitruvius, upon the left of
those who came ont of the Theatre of Bacchus : " Exeunttbus a
theatro sinistra parte. Odeum, quod Athenis Pericles columnis lapideis
disposuit" (Vitruv. lib. v. c. 9J It is this circumstance alone
which has caused the Odium of H erodes to be confounded with that
Theatre; but the monument alluded to by VUruvius was at the end
of the Street of the Tripods, and between that street and the Theatre
of Bacchus. There were three different monuments which had
received the name of Odium : one at the south-east angle of the Citadel,
which was the Odium of Pericles ; another at the south-west angle*
which was the Odium of Her odes At tints . The Odium mentioned by
Pausanias is again considered as a third: the Abbi Barthelemy
believed the Pnyx to have been called Odium by Pausanias. The
subject is, indeed, somewhat embarrassed : and the reader, who
wishes to see it more fully illustrated, may consult the Notes to the
12th Chapter of the Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis, torn. II. p. 542.
sur le Plan aV Athines {& Paris, 1700) ; and the authorities cited by its
author.
(2) There is a fine view of the interior published in the second
volume of Stuart's Athens, ch. iii. PI. 1.; but the representation,
from a drawing by Preaux, will, perhaps, be found more faithful, as to
its external appearance- (See the Quarto Edition, Vol. III. p. 506.) It
also affords one of the most interesting views of the Acropolis; shewing
the situation of the Propylaa, the Parthenon, and, to the right of the
Theatre of Herodes, the site of the long Porticoet surrounding it, the
ATHENS. 255
Nearly all that we know of the building is chap.
derived from an accidental allusion made to it
by PausaniaSy in his description of Achaia ; for
it was not erected, as he himself declares, when
he had finished his account of Attica*. It was
raised by IFerodes, in memory of his wife ; and
considered as far surpassing, in magnitude and
in the costliness of its materials, every other
edifice of the kind in all Greece?. The roof of it
was of cedar. The Onion for the seats was
scooped in the solid rock of the Citadel ; a prac-
tice so antient, that from this circumstance
alone a person might be induced to believe,
with Chandler \ some more antient theatre existed
upon the spot before H erodes added any thing
to the work. The first thing that strikes a
modern traveller, in viewing the Grecian thea-
tres, is the shallowness of the Proscenion, or
place for the stage. It is hardly possible to
conceive how, either by the aid of painting or by
scenic decoration, any tolerable appearance of
distance or depth of view could be imitated.
fa» Choragie Pillar* near to the Theatre of Bacchus, the columns of
Hadrian's Temple of Olympian Jove, and a distant view of the ridge
of Hymettu*.
(3) PausanuB Achaica, c. 20. p. 574. Lips. 1696.
(4) Tovro yap uiykOti rt icai lc rrjv waaav vwtpqKt taraoKtvriv.
Pamsania Achaica, ibid.
256 ATHENS.
chap. The actors must have appeared like our moder
mountebanks upon a waggon. But so little
known of the plan of an antient theatre, part
cularly of the Proscenion, and the manner i
which the Dramas were represented, that tl
most perfect remains which we have of sue
structures leave us still in the dark respectin
the parts necessary to compose the entire buil<
ing. There is no traveller who has better con
pressed what antient and modern writers ha\
said upon the subject, or in a more perspicuoi
manner, than Guilletiere; who piqued himse
upon the value of his observations1, althoug
no one since has ever noticed him. It
observed by him2, that among all the subjec
of which antient authors have treated, that •
the construction of their theatres is the mo
obscure, the most mutilated, and delivered wii
the most contradiction. Vitruvius, says h
conducts his readers only half way8 : he giv
neither the dimensions, nor the situation, n
the number of the principal parts; believu
them to be sufficiently well known, and nev
(1) " Je vous avone franchemeot que e'est icy qne je pr6tens b
vous faire valoir la peine de me* voyages, et le fruit do mes obfer
lions." Voyage d' Athtnet,p. 306. a Paris, 1675.
(2) Ibid.
(3) . . . " a moitie ckemin." Ibid.
ATHENS. 267
ouce dreaming that they were likely to perish, chap.
For example, he does not determine the quan-
tity of the Diazomata, or Prceeinctiones, which
we call corridors, retreats, or landing-places : and
e?en in things which he does specify, he lays
down rules which we actually find were never
attended to ; as when he tells of two distinct
elevations observed in the construction of their
rows of benches, and neither the one nor the
other accords with any thing now remaining of
the antient theatres. Among modern writers,
the Jesuit Gallutius Sabienus, and the learned
SeaUger, have neglected the most essential
parts : and the confused mass of citations col-
lected by Bulengerus intimidates any one who is
desirous to set them in a clear light : after being
at the pains to examine his authorities, and
glean whatever intelligence may be derived
from Athencsus, Hesychius, Julius Pollux, Eusta-
fftu, Smdas, and others, our knowledge is still
TOy imperfect. The Greek theatres were in
general open ; but the Odium of Regilla was
magnificently covered, as has been stated, with
a roof of cedar. The Odium of Pericles, or
Music Theatre, was also covered ; for, according
to Plutarch, it was the high-pointed and tent-
tike shape of its roof, which gave occasion to
the comic poet Oratinus to level some ingenious
vou vi. s
258 ATHENS.
c*[*p- raillery at Pericles, who had the care of it1. In
^»*w their open theatres, the Greeks, being exposed to
the injuries of weather, commonly made their
appearance in large cloaks ; they also made use
of the sciadion, answering to our umbrella, as a
screen from the sun. The plays were per-
formed always by day-light When a storm
arose, the theatre was deserted, and the audi-
ence dispersed themselves in the outer galleries
and adjoining porticoes9. During their most
magnificent spectacles, odoriferous liquors were
showered upon the heads of the people; and
the custom of scattering similar offerings upon
the heads of the people was often practised at
Venice during the Carnival.
Descrip- By the word Theatre, the Antients intended
tion of an y
antient the whole body of the edifice where the people
Theatre, assembled to see their public representations*.
The parts designed for the spectators were
salted the Conistra, or pit ; the rows of benches;
(1) 'O <TxivoKt+a\oc Z«$c 5£c wpovipxlr<u
ncpueXcifCf ripSilop twl rov cpavtov
"Exwv, lictiSr) TOvtrrpaKov jrapoittTau
Vid. Plut. in Pericl. torn. I. p. 353. LotuL 1783.
(2) Vxtruv. lib. t. c. 9. p. 92.
(3) Plutarch considers Qiarpov to be derived from 6<og ; became,
before theatres were built, the Chorus sang the praises of their Gods,
and the commendation of illustrious men.
ATHENS. 259
the Diazomata, or corridors ; the little stairs ; chap.
the Ccrcys ; and the Echea. The other principal
parts of the theatre, belonging to the actors,
were called the Orchestra ; the Proscenion ; and
the Scene, that is to say, the front or face of the
decorations ; for, properly, the word Scene has
oo other signification. The interior structure
extended like the arc of a circle, reaching to
the two corners of the Proscenion : above that
portion of the circumference were raised four
and twenty rows of benches, surrounding the
Gmistra, or pit, for the spectators. These
benches, in their whole height, were divided
into three sets by the Diazomata or corridors,
consisting of eight rows in each division. The
Diazomata ran parallel to the rows of seats, and
were of the same form ; they were contrived as
passages for the spectators from one part of the
theatre to another, without incommoding those
who were seated : for the same convenience,
there were little steps4 that crossed the several
rows, and reached from one corridor to another,
from the top to the bottom, so that persons
(4) Bach of those little steps was exactly half the height of one of
tile benches. They formed diverging radii from the Conistra. Such
tfiircases remain very entire in the theatres of Asia Minor, as at
THwuuum ; in Epidauria ; at Sieyon ; dusroncta ; sec.
s 2
260
ATHENS.
chap, might ascend or descend without incommoding
the audience. Near to those staircases were
passages leading to the outer porticoes, by
which the spectators entered to take their
places. The best places were in the middle
tier, upon the eight rows between the eighth
and the seventeenth bench. This part of the
theatre was called Bouleuticon ; it was set apart
for the magistrates. The other tiers were
called Ephebicon, and were appropriated to the
citizens after they had attained their eighteenth
year. Along each corridor, at convenient
distances, in the solid part of the structure,
were small cellular cavities, called JEchaa,
containing brass vessels, open towards the
Scene. Above the upper corridor there was a
gallery or portico, called Cercys, for the women ;
but those who had led disorderly lives had a
place apart for their reception. Strangers, and
allies who had the freedom of the city, were
also placed in the Cercys. Individuals had also,
sometimes, a property in particular places;
which descended by succession to the eldest of
the family.
Thus much for the parts appropriated to the
spectators. With regard to others belonging
to the Drama, the Orchestra (an elevation out of
(1) Betides the parts of a Greek Theatre here enumerated, Guilletiere
Mentions the Logeum, or ThymcU, which the Romans called Pulpitum ;
and the Hypotcemon ; both which were parts of the Orchestra. Alto
the Parascemon, or space before and behind the Scene ; and a species
of machinery for introducing the Gods, which was called Tkedogtion.
ATHENS. 261
the Qmistra or pit) began about fifty-four feet
from the face of the Proscenion or stage, and
ended at the Proscenion. Its height was about
four feet; its shape, an oblong parallelogram,
detached from the seats of the spectators : here
were stationed the musicians, the choir, and
the mimics. Among the Romans it was destined
for a more noble use ; the Emperor, the Senate,
the Vestals, and other persons of quality, having
their seats upon it. The Proscenion or stage
was raised seven feet above the Orchestra, and
eleven above the Conistra ; and upon it stood an
altar dedicated to Apollo. The part called the
Scene was nothing else than the columns, and
architectural decorations, raised from the foun-
dations and upon the wings of the Proscenion,
merely for ornament. When there were three
rows of pillars one above another, the highest
row was called Episcenion. Agatarchus was the
first architect who decorated the Scene according
to the rules of perspective : he received his
instructions from JEschylus1. The theatres of
262 ATHENS.
chap. Greece and Asia Minor were not solely appro-
priated to plays and public shows ; sometimes
they were used for state assemblies ; and occa-
sionally as schools, in which the most eminent
philosophers harangued their scholars. St. Paul
was desirous to go into the theatre at Ephesus,
to address the people, during the uproar caused
by Demetrius the silversmith1 ; but was intreated
by his disciples not to present himself there,
through fear that he would encounter the
violence which Gains and Aristarchus had
already experienced2.
From the Odhim of Regilla we went to the
Areopagus ; wishing to place our feet upon a
spot where it is so decidedly known that
St. Paul had himself stood, when he declared
unto the Athenians* the nature of the
(1) Act8.x\x.30, 31.
(2) This brief surrey of the form of an antient Greek theatre, and
of its various parts, will be found useful to travellers, during their
examination of the remains of such structures. Those who wish to
see the subject more fully discussed, may consult Guilletiere • from
whose researches, added to his personal observations, it has been with
very little alteration, derived. The author, having already proved its
accuracy, by comparing it with the Notes be made among the rains
of the Grecian theatres, and finding that it had been unaccountably
overlooked, conceived it might make a useful addition to his work.
(3) Jrtfxvii.32.
ATHENS. 263
Unknown God whom they so ignorantly CHAP#
worshipped, and opposed the new doctrine of J^
" Christ crucified" to the spirit and the genius
of the Gentile faith. They had brought him to
the Areopagus, to explain the nature of the rash
enterprise in which he was engaged ; and to
account for the unexampled temerity of an
appeal which called upon them to renounce
their idols, to abolish their most holy rites, and
to forsake their Pantheon for One only God
"who dwelleth not in temples made with
hands/' — the God of the Hebrews too, a people
hated and despised by all. It is not possible
to conceive a situation of greater peril, or one
more calculated to prove the sincerity of a
preacher, than that in which the Apostle was
here placed : and the truth of this, perhaps, will
never be better felt, than by a spectator who,
from this eminence, actually beholds the stately
monuments of Pagan pomp and superstition by
which he, whom the Athenians consider as " the
setter-forth of strange Gods,'* was then sur-
rounded ; representing to the imagination the
disciples of Socrates and of Plato, the Dogmatist
of the Porch, and the Sceptic of the Academy,
addressed by a poor and lowly man, who, " rude
in speech," without the " enticing words of man's
wisdom/' enjoined precepts contrary to their
264 ATHENS*
chap, taste, and very hostile to their prejudices. One
TV' of the peculiar privileges of the Areapagitm
seems to have been set at defiance by the zeal
of St. Paul upon this occasion ; namely, that of
inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment
upon any person who should slight the celebra-
tion of the holy mysteries, or blaspheme the
Qods of Greece. We ascended to the summit,
by means of steps cut in the natural stone,
which is of breccia. The sublime scene here
exhibited is so striking, that a brief descrip-
tion of it may prove how truly it offers to
ns a commentary upon the Apostle's words,
as they were delivered upon the spot. He
stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath
the canopy of heaven1. Before him there was
spread a glorious prospect of mountains, islands,
seas, and skies ; behind him towered the lofty
(1) The Senate of the Areopagus assembled sometimes in the ifryol
Portico; (vid. Demosth. in Aristog. p. 831.) but its most ordinary place
of meeting wis on an eminence at a small distance from the Citadd,
(HerodoL lib. viii. e. 62.) called "Apctog xoyoc/. Here a space was
lerelled for this Court, by planing the summit of the rock ; and the
steps which conducted to it were similarly carred out of the solid
•tone. In this respect it somewhat resembled Pnffx. The origin of
this Court may be traced back to the time of Ceeropi (Marmor. Osom.
Epoch. 3.) The Areopagus had no roof; but it was occasionally de-
fended from the weather by a temporary shed. (Jul. Pofl.iifr.TiB.
•.10. Firm* tie. U.e.1.)
ATHENS.
265
Acropolis, crowned with all its marble temples, chap.
Thus every object, whether in the face of
Nature or among the works of Art, conspired to
derate the mind, and to fill it with reverence
towards that Being "who made and governs
the world"9 ; who sitteth in that light which no
mortal eye can approach, and yet is nigh unto
the meanest of his creatures ; " in whom we
five, and move, and have our being."
Within the Peribolus of the Areopagus was
the Monument qfGEdipus, whose bones, according
to PausanuuP, were brought hither from Thebes ;
and the actual site of the altar mentioned by the
same author may still be seen in the rock. It is
scarcely necessary to repeat the history of a place
so well known, and so long renowned for the im-
partial judgment which was here administered4.
(2) Acts xrli. 24, 28.
(3) ''Rtrri 8k ivrbq rod ictpifiokov uvijua Oidiirotog. UoXvirpayuov&v
H, c&pt*cov r& bora 1* Qijfiwv KOutoOivra. Pausan. lib. i. c. 28. p. 09.
Zi^. 1696.
(4) Every thing the Reader may wish to tee concentrated upon this
•abject, may be found in the Thesaurus Gracarum Antiguitatum of
Grsmomius : and particularly in the Areopagus Meursii, as edited by
him. {VuL Volum. Quint, p. 2071. X. Bat. 1G99.) That the Hill
of the Areopagus was a continuation of the western slope of the
AcropoUs, seems manifest, from the following allusion made to it by
LuciAH : — USvov awUtpiv In* "Aptiov irayov, uaXXov 8k tig rj)v
'Afp6xoXty a6n)y, «*£ av Ik ttjq jrtpi*nrrjc Rua Karafavilrj iravra ra
iw rj x6Xf *. " Tautum ad Areopagum abeamus, sen potius in ipsam
Areem ; ut tanqnam e specula, simul omnia, quae in urbe,conspiciantur.''
Vid. Lueian. in Piscators, ap. Meurs. Areop. e. 1. Edit. Gronovii.
266 ATHENS.
chap. We turned from it towards the Temple of
IV.
i^v^, Theseus, which exists almost as perfect as
Temple of when it was at first finished. Having gratified
our curiosity by a hasty survey of the outside
of this building — which, although not of so
much magnitude as the Parthenon, ranks next
to it in every circumstance of chaste design and
harmonious proportion— we entered the modern
city by a gate near to the Temple* and were
conducted to the comfortable dwelling assigned
for our abode, by Lusieri, during the remainder
of our residence in Athens.
.o Q«m, in the Author'* PomcmIcii.
CHAP. V.
Temple of the Winds — Unknown Structure of the
Corinthian Order — The Bazar — Population
and Trade of Athens— State of the Arts —
Manufacture of Pictures — Monochromatic
Painting of the Antients — Terra-Cottas — Ori-
gin of Painting and Pottery among the Greeks
— Medals and Gems — Explanation of the Am-
phora, as a symbol upon Athenian Coins —
Ptolemseum — Antient Marbles — Theseura —
Grave o/*Tweddell — Description of the Tem-
ple— Areopagus — Piraean Gate — Pnyx —
Monument
268 A T H E N 8.
Monument an the Museum — Antient Walls —
Theatre and Cave of Bacchus— Monument of
Thrasyllus — Choragic Pillars — Remarkable
Inscription — Origin of the Crypt — Ice Plant
in its native state — Arch of Hadrian — its origin
— when erected — Temple of Jupiter Olympius
— Discordant accounts of this building — reasons
for the name assigned to it — Ilissus — Fountain
Callirhoe — False notions entertained of the
river — Stadium Panathenaicum — Sepulchre of
Herodes — Hadrian's Reservoir — Mount An-
chesmus — View from the summit.
chap. The next morning, October the thirtieth, we
K^sr+J received a visit from the English Consul, Signer
Spiridion Logotheti, who accompanied us to the
Waiwodey or Turkish Governor. This ceremony
being over, Lusieri conducted us to see the
Tempi* of famous marble Temple of the Winds, at a
' short distance from the bazar. This octagonal
building is known to be the same which
Vitruvius mentions, but it is entirely unnoticed
by Pansanias. The soil has been raised all
around the tower, and in some places accu-
mulated to the height of fifteen feet : owing to
this circumstance, the spectator is placed too
near to the figures sculptured in relief upon the
sides of the edifice ; for these appear to be
clumsy statues, out of all proportion to the
V.
ATHENS. 269
building. Lusieri believed that it had been the chap.
original design of the architect to raise those
figures to a greater elevation than that in which
they were viewed even before the accumulation
of the soil. Stuart has been so explicit in the
description of the building and every thing re-
lating to it, that he has left nothing to be added
by other travellers1. It seems the Christians
once made use of it as a church ; and their
establishment has been succeeded by that of a
college of Dervishes, who here exhibit their
peculiar dance. Probably it was one of the
sacred structures of the antient city ; and, as a
place of religious worship, served for other
purposes than that of merely indicating the
direction of the Winds, the Seasons, and the
Hours. The author of the Archaohgia Graca
seems to have entertained this opinion, by
calling it, after W/ieler, a Temple of the Eight
Winds*.
We then went to the bazar, and inspected the
market. The shops are situate on the two sides
of a street lying to the north of the Acropolis,
which is close and parallel to the wall and
(1) Antiquities of AtMtns, tol. III. c. 3. LomL 1709.
(S) AictooL Grmc. voL I. e. 8. p. 35. ImkL 1731.
270 ATHENS.
chap, columns of a magnificent building of the Corin-
v^ thian order. The entablature, capitals, and parts
stature* of the shafts of these columns, may be viewed
Corinthian from the street ; but the market is, for the most
er" part, covered by trellis- work and vines. So
little is known concerning the history of this
building, that it were vain to attempt giving an
account of it. Spon1, Wheler\ and Le JRotf,
call it the Temple of Jupiter Olympius. The
temples of Jupiter were generally not, like this
building, of the Corinthian, but of the Doric
order : the same objection, however, applies to
the received opinion concerning those columns
of Hadrian near the Ilissus, which are now
believed to have belonged to that temple.
Stuart considered this Corinthian structure near
the bazar as the Stoa, or portico, which was
called PoiAile* or Pcecile. A fine view of the
bazar, and also of the building, is given in
Le Roy's work5. It is highly probable that the
The Ba- bazar is situate upon the antient market of the
zar.
(l)Voyagede Grice, etdu Levant, fait auz annees 1675 et 1076,
torn. II. p. 107. a la Haye, 1724.
(2) Journey into Greece, p. 891. Lond. 1682.
(2) Raines des Monumens de la Grice, p. 10. Paris, 1758.
(4) See Stuart's Athens, vol. I. c. 5. Lond. 1762. Also vol. III.
Plan of the Antiquities. Land. 1704.
(5) See Plate X. Ruines, &c. Pans, 1758.
ATHENS. 171
inner Ceramicus, and near to the site of the chap.
v.
greater Agora, from the circumstance of the
Inscription mentioned by Span and by Wheler,
containing a decree of the Emperor Hadrian
relating to the sale of oil, which was found upon
the spot6. And if this be true, the Corinthian
edifice may be either the old Forum of the inner
Ceramicus, called APXAIA AIX)PA, where the
public assemblies of the people were held, which
is the most probable conjecture as to its origin,
or the remains of the Temple of Vulcan, or of
Venus Urania ; for the Doric portico which Stuart
believed to have belonged to the Agora1 is
exactly in a line with the front of this building ;
and its situation corresponds with that of the
portico called BasiUum by Pausamas, beyond
which the Temple of Vulcan stood8. The mea-
sures for dry things, in the bazar, were fashioned
in the antient style, and of the materials for-
merly used, being made of white marble ; but
their capacity has been adapted to modern
(8) See Spony as abore, p. 106. Wheler, p. 889. KiXtvepa vofupbv
Otov "ASptavov, c. r. X. See alto the Plan of Athens, eograTed aa a
Viemette to the preceding Chapter.
(7) Antiquities of Athens, toL I. c. 1. p. 3. LontL 1762.
(8) Txip Ik rbv Kipapuxbv ttaX aro&v n}v Kakovukvnv BavCktiov,
waff Imrtv BfaUrroy Trknoiov H Up6v ivriv 'Afpodlrnc
0*>«W«f. Pmmm*Attka,c.M.p.S6. Lip*. 1696.
272 ATHENS.
chap, customs : instead of the medimnus, the chcenix,
v.
and the xestes, we found them to contain two
quintals, one quintal, and the half quintal. The
population population of Athens amounts to fifteen thousand,
and Trade * *
of Athens, including women and children. The principal
exports are honey and oil : of the latter they
send away about five vessels frieghted an-
nually. Small craft, from different parts of the
Archipelago, occasionally visit the Piraeus and
the neighbouring coast, for wood. The shops
maintain an insignificant traffic in furs and cloth.
The best blue cloth in Athens was of bad
German manufacture, selling under the name
of English. Indeed, in almost all the towns of
Europe, when any thing is offered for sale of
better manufacture than usual, it is either
English, or said to be English1, in order to
enhance its price.
(1) For the most accurate Information respecting the commerce of
Greece, in all its part*, the Reader is referred to the publication of
Mons. Beaujour (Tableau du Commerce de la Grcce, par Felix Beau-
jour, Ex-Consul en Qrece. Paris, 1800.) Upon the subject of " La
draperie Anglaise," these imitations of English cloth are mentioned as
having the preference o?er the original manufacture. " Depuis cette
epoque (1731) le credit de la draperie Anglaise a toojours baiss^. On a
vn sur cette place le debit des Londres diminuer progressivement par la
concurrence de nos londrins, faits a leur Imitation. Les londres sent
des draps legers et grossiers, ainsi nommes, parce que les premiers
fabriques furent etablies 4 Londres. L'assortiment etait d'abord
infariablement nn tiers Yert, un tiers bleu, et un tiers garance. On
demands aujourdlrai des assortimens composes tout de bleu." Tableau
du Comm. torn. II. p. 8.
ATHENS. 273
The silversmiths were occupied in making chap.
coarse rings for the Albanian women ; and the v.
poor remains of Grecian painters in fabricating, suteof the
rather than delineating, pictures of Saints and
Virgins. Their mode of doing this may serve Manufec-
to shew how exactly the image of any set of p^uL.
features, or the subject of any representation,
may be preserved unaltered, among different
artists, for many ages. The prototype is always
kept by them, and transmitted with great care
from father to son (for in Greece, as in China,
the professions are often hereditary, and remain
in the same family for a number of generations):
it consists of a piece of paper upon which the
outline and all the different parts of the design,
even to the minutest circumstance, have been
marked by a number of small holes pricked with
the point of a pin or a needle. This pattern is
laid on any surface prepared for painting, and
rubbed over with finely-powdered charcoal : the
dust falling through the holes leaves a dotted
outline for the painter, who then proceeds to
apply the colours much after the same manner,
by a series of other papers having the places
cut out where any particular colour is to be
applied. Very little skill is requisite in the
finishing ; for, in fact, one of these manufacturers
might with just as much ease give a rule to
VOL. VI. T
<?4 ATHENS.
&tA& wake & picture, as a tailor to cat out a suit of
V. clothes : the only essential requisite is a good
set of patterns, and these are handed from
father to son. Hence we learn the cause of
that remarkable stiffness and angular outline
which characterize all the pictures in the Greek
churches: the practice is very antient; and
although the works of some Greek painters,
which yet remain, enable us to prove that
there were artists capable of designing and
drawing in a more masterly manner, yet it is
highly probable that the pictures of the Antients
were often of this description. Whoever atten-
tively examines the paintings upon terra-cotta
Monockro-yB8e*> executed in the style called Monochra*
£^0? matic1, will be convinced that such a process was
Antlenti. U8ec* » onty w^^ *k*8 difference : the parts for the
picture were either left bare, being covered by
the pattern, and the whole surface of the vessel
which remained exposed was coated with black
paint ; or, cavities being cut out for the figures,
were filled with the black or white colour, and
the rest of the vase possessed the natural hue of
the clay after being baked. The latter process
(1) " Secundam singulis coloribus, «t monochromaion dictanvpost-
qnam operator invent* erst." Plm. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxr. e. 3.
tern. III. p. 417. £. Bat. 163&
ATHBN8. ffflf,
was the toojre antient ; ancj va?es of this de- GnApk
scri prion are decorated with black, or very rarely y>
wjth white, figures and ornaments upon a red
ground. The fact is, that the white colour ha*
been generally decomposed, a?4 nothing remains
but the ground upon whjch it was laid. After a
Yase has been discovered in an anient sepulchre,
the white colour is so fugitive that it }& some-,
times Carried off by the mefe proceas of wash-
tog the vessel in common wetter, ^nd it never
i$afets the acids which are p$edfor that purpose*.
Tjhe persons who deal in these antiquities, at
Naples and in other parts of Italy, very com-
mooly retouch and restore their vases, adding
a little white paint where the white colour has
disappeared. The monochromatic paintings of
the Antients sometimes consisted of white colour
upon a red or black ground : this style of paint-
ing was expressed by the wojd XevKoypafciif*
The most heautiful of the monochromatic paintings
are those which were executed upon .earthen
vases when the Arts were considerably advanced :
(3) (ArUtot. Poet. c. 6. See alto Winkelmann Hist. deVArt.
torn*. II*. p. 144*. Paris, An 2.) Sometimes a red colour waa singly
applied spoil a white ground ; in which style of painting four pictures
were found in Heradaneum: and, lastly, there were monochromatic
pAiatiogi with a black -colour upon a red ground; and upon the terra-
cotta Taaes.
T 2
276 ATHENS.
these exhibit red figures upon a black ground ;
the beautiful red colour being due solely to the
fine quality of the clay : the effect was after-
wards heightened by the addition of an outline,
at first rudely scratched with the point of a
sharp instrument, but in the best ages of the
Arts carefully delineated ; and often tinted with
other colours, in so masterly a style, that it
has been said Raphael, under similar circum-
stances, could not have produced any thing
superior, either in beauty or correctness1. But
the vases which are characterized by such per-
fection of the art, rarely exhibit paintings of
equal interest with those fabricated at an earlier
sera. The designs upon the latter generally
serve to record historical events ; or they repre*
sent the employments of man in the earliest ages ;
either when engaged in destroying the ferocious
animals which infested his native woods, or in
procuring by the chase the means of his sub-
sistence2. The representations upon the former
(1) 8ee the obeeiraUon* of D'tfoncarri/fc, Italinski, Bb W. Hamil-
ton, &c. &c.
(9) Monochromatic paintings upon ivory hare been found where it
might be least expected that any thing resembling the artf of Etrttria
or of Greece would be discovered; namely, among the AleouUm
Islet, between North America and Kamchatka* The author
had
ATHENS. $77
relate only to the ceremonies of the bath- and of CHAP#
the toilet ; or to the dances, and the games, as v.
they were celebrated at the Grecian festivals.
The subject of Grecian painting has insensibly
led to that of the terra-cotta vases, because these
have preserved for us the most genuine speci-
mens of the art as it existed in the remotest
periods of its history ; and we now see that the
method employed by the earliest Grecian artists
in their monochromatic painting is still used by
Athenian workmen in the manufacture of their
idol pictures. The silver shrines with which
such pictures are covered, especially in Russia,
having holes cut in them to shew the feces and
hands of their Saints and Virgins, exhibit exactly
the sort of superficies used upon these occasions
for laying on the parts of the painting ; and it
is very probable that the Russian painters, who
manufacture these images for sale, received from
the Greeks, with their religion, this method of
preparing them. A curious piece of chicanery
is practised by the Russian dealers in this species
of holy craft. The silver shrine is supposed to
bad In hit possession an i?ory bow, brought thence by Commodore
BUHmg$: on which the natives were represented as engaged in
iahJng , Ac : the figures, delineated in a black colour, perfectly re-
sembled the paintings of the oldest terra-cotta vases.
8?$ A THEN S.
• *
serve as a mete teasfe to inclose the sacred picture ;
leaving only the small apertures before men
*■ * _
tioned, for their Bogks, or Gods, to peep through
but afc the part beneath the silver superficies it
not seen, they spare themselves the trouble oi
. • *
painting atiy thing except the face and hands oi
the imagfe ; so that if the covering, by any acci-
dent, fell off, the bare wood is disclosed, instead
of the rest of the picture. * But to return to the
art of painting among the Antient Greeks : If
• *
we except the pictures found in HercufaneMi,
Pompeii, and Stabia, and the few faint vestiges
• • • ■
upon marble statutes, we may despair of seefitig
anything so perfect as tf*e specimens which site
* » . • - ••>> , • • * • *
preserved upon terra cotta ; whether upon facings
intended for architecture1, or upon vases found
in Grecian sepulchres. It is evident that these
Origin or k . r •
Painting pictures are purely Grecian, because Greek
and Pottery •
among the inscriptions so often accompany them; but it
Seems equally evident that the Greeks were
indebted for the art to the Etruscans. The art
of making earthenware was transported from
Etruria into Greece. The Romans also borrowed
this invention from the Etruscans ; to whom
(l.) Painted terra cotta was sometime* used in Grecian buildings, for
the frieze and other ornaments : or this an example will*be gi? en in a
subsequent description of Ruins in Epidauria.
ATHgff*. 470
Greece was indebted for many of ita ceremonies CHAP
and religious institutions8, and for its mechanics v. .
and artificers3. According to Heraclides Ponticus,
the inhabitants of Etruria were distinguished
to ail the Arts and Sciences4 ; and before the
foundation of Horn, the art of painting had
attained a high degree of perfection it) that
country j for Pliny mentions pictures at Ardea
which were older than the birth of Hamulus *.
This alone is sufficient to shew, that, in the eighth
ceaiury before the Christian sera, and above an
hundred years before the age of Solon, conse-
quently before the Arts obtained any footing in
Greece, the same people who taught the Greeks
the art of making earthenware were also well
acquainted wi th the art of painting. In addition,
it may be urged that the cities of Nola and Capua
were founded and built by the Etruseanf ; and
it is remarkable that the vases of Nola are peculiar
(3) Plato de Leg. lib.?.
(9) PktrtcraUtvp. Athen. DUpnos.Kb. x.
(4) In Fragment, ad Cole. Milan,
(5) " Extant eertfe faodieqtie antlqaiores orbe plctone Arde© to
gqHwa aaerlf, quibas equldem nullas aequo demfror tarn longo oe?o
darantot in orbitate tectl, velaU recenter." Plin. Hitt. Nat. lib. xxxr.
(owl III. p. 419. £. Sat. 1635.
(6) Cato ap. Fef . Patere. lib. I. c. 7.
£30 ATHENS.
chap f°r elegance of design and excellence of work-
v.^ manship.
Among the few articles of Athenian cutlery to
be met with in the market, we found some small
knives and forks, with white bone handles,
inscribed with mottoes in modern Greeks cha-
racteristic of the manners and sentiments of
the people ; such, for example, as the following :
*P/(a TravTcov r&v kokcov tariv rj <f>tXa/yyvpla9
" The love of money is the root of all evils."
-MrjStva tcaraQpovuv, " You should despise no
one." For the rest, nothing can be more wretch-
edly supplied than Athens with the most common
articles of use or convenience. The artists em-
ployed for the British Ambassador were under
the necessity of sending to Smyrna to obtain a
wheeled cart for moving the marbles to the
Pirceeus, and for all the materials and imple-
ments wanted in preparing cases to contain
them. No ladders could be found, nor any
(1) The author hai not seen a Dissertation by the Abb6 Lanzi, which
is cited in a work published by the Society of Dilettanti (entitled
" Specimens of Antient Sculpture," Land. 1800.) as containing proof
that the Etruscans {See the Observations facing Plate 17.) " followed
the improvements of the Greeks at a respectful distance, and bad no
pretensions to that venerable antiquity in the Arts which has been
assigned to them."
ATH ENS.
28*
instruments proper for making them. It was chap.
not possible to procure the most ordinary do- v^v^
mestic utensils, nor a single article of curriery.*
Specimens of antient art are less rare A Medals
. and Genii.
goldsmith sold to us some beautiful gold medals,
of Alexander and of Philip, for doable their
weight in Venetian sequins. He had several
gems of great beauty in his possession, but he
estimated them as if he intended to make his
fortune by the sale of them. Some of these are
perhaps now in England. One of them was a
small red and white sardonyx camio : the sub-
ject, Jupiter, in his war with the Giants, hurling
the thunder ; the god being represented in a
(3) A couple of old Turkish raddles, which had belonged to the late
Mr. TweddeU, were first recommended and afterwards sold to as by
SfritBan Logotheti, the English Consul, at an enormous price, as his
*wb property : possession In Athens, as elsewhere, with regard to
Mr % TwtddetVs effects, being considered equal to u nine points of the
lav." He knew Tery well that onr future travels in Greece depended,
in a gnat measure, upon this acquisition, and be took care to profit by
the occasion. All subsequent travellers have noticed his rapacity.
When Stuart was in Athens, he met with similar treatment from our
Consul ; and as long as these situations are held by Greeks, Englishmen
who visit this country will be liable to their exactions. Hardly a
day passed without a demand from this man for money, under some
pretext or other. This note is therefore Inserted as a caution to the
number of our countrymen now visiting Greece ; that they may have
as little intercourse as possible with Greeks calling themselves English
Consuls, or really acting in that capacity.
28f A T H B H 8.
chap. caP# with four horses : the workmanship of this
wvW cameo was exceedingly fine1. The author also
obtained here, for forty piastres, the fine silver
tetradrachm of Lysxmackus exhibiting the por-
trait of Alexander the Cheat, which he caused
to be engraved for a Dissertation upon the Soros
brought from Alexander's Tomb ; and he after-
wards procured, from an A Ibanian family, a sil-
vfer medal of Athens, of equal size, and almost
a hora *4ual beauty. The well-known symbol of the
explained. ^^ Afnphara, lying horizontally upon the re-
verses of Athenian medals, has never received
any satisfactory illustration. It is accompanied
by an owl, and the bird is represented sitting upon
the vessel. The mythological principle implied
by the one may therefore be supposed to have
an allusion also in the other ; and that this is
true, and that the principle so expressed was
passive as to its nature, may be clearly shewn by
reference to a few facts. The owl was the
symbol of Pallas, because it denoted the priva-
tion or the absence of light ; and the author has
(1) The same subject is represented, bat with the addition of the
Giants and their serpent legs, precisely after the same manner, bj the
fine antique engraved in the Pari* edition of Winkelmann't Works.
Voy. CEuvru compUt* de Winkdaumn, tarn. II. lib. if.c8.ji. 116.
Paris, An 2.
(3) See " Greek Marbles, p. 90. also Append, p. 79.
(3) A marble amphora of this description is in the Collection of
Greek MafbUs at Cambridge : ft was found upon the shore of the
PrapontU ; and presented by Spencer Smith, Bsq. late Minister Pleni-
potentiary at the Ottoman Porte, brother of Sir Sidney Smith,
(4) The place is called Ovidiopol by the Russians. There is an en -
graved representation of the interior of the tomb in PaUas*s Trarels
through the South of Russia, toI. IT. p. 244.
Voy. Recherche* sarl'Origin des Arts, &c.
ATHBHS. 283
prored, upon a former occasion1, that Polios, or
the whole body of female Divinities whom this
Goddess was supposed to personify, Qt Night,
or Silence, or Death, or any other sign of priva*
Am, was bat a type of the passive principle : con-
sequently, the void amphora, or the Gorgonian
head (which Pallas bore upon her jSSgis, and
which also often appears with the amphora upon
the medals of Athens), or the owl, or the mytho-
logical principle denoted by any one of these,
was an allusion to the sleep of Nature, and must
have been considered as the memento mori of the
Pagan world. For a decisive proof of this, it
May be uqged, that the form of the amphora
itself was sometime* given to the Sttlt, as a
sepulchral monument*. A tomb was opened in
the SoHth of Russia, containing on either Bide of
it a void amphora leaning against the Soros*.
Sometimes the Antients represented a winged
Sphinx as sitting upon an empty amphora? ; and
284 ATHENS.
chap, the Sphinx, as it is well known, is one of the
n^v*-/ sepulchral monuments in the great coemetery of
Memphis. The same vessel was made an ac-
companiment of Charon and Hermes when con-
ducting P&cyhe, or the Soul, to Hades, as this
subject is represented upon the Gems of Qreecd.
Proceeding through the inhabited part of the
city, towards the north-west, a little beyond the
Corinthian structure to which we have so lately
alluded, we came to an extensive Ruin, encum-
bered with modern buildings; which Stuart,
from the imperfect survey he was able to make
of it, considered as the Gymnasium of Pto-
ptofejMeumLEMY*. Its vicinity to the Temple of Theseus
renders this highly probable. Stuart indeed
speaks of its plan ; but he has not given it.
Concealed as it is by dwellings, and greatly
dilapidated, we have not even attempted to
supply what that able architect and inquisitive
traveller did not feel himself authorised, from
the state of the Ruin, to communicate.
(1) See the Vignette to this Chapter ; from a $carabaan gem in the
author's possession. Mercury, in this representation appears to be
offering the cake of floor and honey to appease Cerberus. VuL
Arittoph. in Lyeitt. v. 601. Schol. ib. Id. in Eccles. v. 534.
(2) See vol. III. p. 3. Antiq. of Athene. Land. 1704.
ATHENS. £85
As we passed through the town, there was chap.
hardly a house that had not some little marble «^»y*w
fragment of antient sculpture stuck in its front, ^MoTea.
over the door ; and since most of the houses
have court-yards, where the objects within are
concealed from the observation of passengers in
the streets, many valuable antiquities will be
brought to light as Athens becomes more visited.
The few articles which we collected, during our
residence here, may be considered as pro-
mising indications of future acquisitions of the
same nature. In the yard belonging to the house
where we resided, there were two Bas-reliefs;
and although the workmanship in each of them
is not characterized by the masterly style and
execution which distinguishes the sculpture in
the Acropolis, yet it is easy to perceive that
they have been touched by the hand of an
Athenian artist. They were both given to us
by our hostess, the first day after our arrival ;
and they are now in the University Library at
Cambridge. One of them represents the initia-
tion of Hercules by a priestess of Ceres?; and it
(3) This ceremony is said to hare taken place, not at Eleueie, but
at the Temple of Ceres in Agra, where the letter mysteries were cele-
brated. Vid. Stephan. in lib. MeursU de Popuiis A ttic*, ap. Gnmov.
Tkee.Grcc.Antvi.vol.lv. p. MS. Lug. Bat. 1099.
£86 ATHENS.
c***p- is singular that the figure of Hercules \s draped
Hie other exhibits a female figure, seated, t<
whom a male is presenting a new-born infant
The Grecians were accustomed to consign tbei;
newly-born children to the tutelar care of 8ora<
Deity, upon the fifth day after their birth : upor
this occasion they went in white robes, witl
their feet bare. But the figure in this bas-reliej
carrying the child may allude to a circumstance
which occurred in the life of. Caligula, whe
placed his infant daughter, Lima Drusilla, in the
lap of the protecting Minerva. The sculpture ia
remarkable for the ease and freedom which it
displays. It is a very uncommon circumstance
to have these things pointed out by a Turk :
but we had this good luck; in passing the
door of a Turkish house, its owner hailed us
with the usual appellation, — "Bjowrs! here w
some rubbish suited to your taste : take it off my
premises!" He had found in his garden, among
some old foundations, the half of a marble bas-
relief, which represented the annual procession
of the Athenian citizens, with their youth, to th$
ceremony of initiation at Eleusis ; and for a
trifle he allowed us to remove it, seeming to be
quite happy in getting rid of a stone on which
human figures were delineated. We saw also,
in one of the streets, an ancient marble Siktt,
AT H EH 8. 287
lying horizontally , and serving as a horse-block, g^ap.
When we draw near to examine it, we disco-
▼ered that it had been placed upon the Tomb
of Euclid of Hermione, whom we found to
be represented upon the upper part of the
pillar, standing beneath an arch, in a philoso-
pher's habit, and with a scroll in his hand.
Beneath this figure, near to the base of the
pilar, and upon the part of the stone which
must have been buried when the SUM was
erected, we observed the usual animal symbol
of ArmbiSy the infernal Mercury, in the form of
a dog, rudely sketched upon the surface; and
over the arched recess, containing the figure of
the philosopher, we read, in ver y legible cha-
racters, this Inscription in the Doric dialect,
remarkable for the variation in the genitive
ease:
ETKAIAA2 EYKAIAOY
EPMI0NEY2
" EUCLID SON OF EUCLID OF HERMOIVE."
Of two celelebrated philosophers who bore this
name, the disciple of Socrates, as the first, was
a native of Megara; and the mathematician,
as the second, flourished at Alexandria. The
manner of the writing, the style of the sculp-
ture, and the form of the arch, might induce an
288 ATHENS..
chap, opinion that this StiU was not of antier
date sufficient for either of their sepulchres
yet it may be observed that Span1 has givei
from a medal struck at Megara, a portrait <
Euclid the Wrangler, with his name on one side
and that of Hadrian on the other ; and Bella
has published a different coin (MErAPEON
with the head of Euclid, as Aulus GtUim
describes it, " ricd velatus" with which tfa
figure on the StiU agrees. Both represents
tions may therefore have been intended t
represent the same individual ; and what fin
ther confirms this is, that whilst the reverse c
the medal exhibits the figure of Diana, bearinj
in either hand a torch, as the symbol of th
lower regions and of night, so the dog on th<
Stele, the animal figure of Anubis, is also dial
of Sirius at its heliacal setting: a significant
and appropriate emblem of the philosopher
descending into the infernal shades. These
marbles, together with our other subsequent
acquisitions in bas-reliefs and fragments found
in Athens, amounting to fourteen pieces from
this city alone, are now in the University
Library at Cambridge : and as the author's
account of them is already before the public, it
(1) Miscell. Brad. Antiq.seo. it. (2) Lib. ▼!. c 10.
ATHENS. 289
will be unnecessary in this place to notice the chap.
rest5. v"
We accompanied Signor Lusieri to the The- Tkestum.
8eum ; and having obtained admission to the
interior of the temple, paid a melancholy visit
to the grave of that accomplished scholar £^_of
whose name we had found inscribed upon the DBLL-
pillars of Sunium ; the exemplary and lamented
Tweddell4. It was simply a small oblong
(3) See "Greek Marbles,* Nos. x. xi. xn. xv. xvn. xvm.xxii.
XXttj. xxx. xxxiii. xxxv. xxxvi. xxxvn. Cambridge, 1800.
(4) Johh Twbddell, tbe eldest son of Francis Tweddell, Esq. of
Tkrtepwood in the County of Northumberland, was born on the 1st of
/■at, 1709; and after passing through the usual course of preparatory
•Nation, was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he distin-
ftbbed himself by such proofs of original genius as are, perhaps,
vithout example, even in the records of that learned Society. As
a candidate for University honours, his " Prolusiones Academical9
tttcsthis success to have been equally brilliant and extraordinary,
tad supersede the necessity of particular illustration. Mr. Tweddell
«ii elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1708, and soon afterwards
«*taed himself a Student of Lincoln $ Inn, where he kept his terms,
»d cootiuoed to reside until the year 1705, when he left England to
ttttaeaee bis travels on the continent of Europe— and met with that
"•thaely fate which has mixed his ashes with those of the sages and
pfcflosopbers of Greece. He visited Switzerland, Germany, most parts
•* the Russian Empire, and particularly the Crimea, where his inter-
*"**« with Professor Pallas was of the most Intimate kind, and had
* taoeared him to that amiable scholar, that the admiration with
**kh he spoke of him partook of the tenderness and affection of a
*ther. From the borders of the Euxine, where his researches were
"** diligent and productive, he proceeded to Constantinople; and
VOL. VI. U mtUr
290 ATHENS.
chap, heap of earth, like those over the comm<
graves in all our English church-yards, witho
stone or inscription of any kind. The bod
too, had been carelessly interred : we were to
that it did not lie more than three or four fi
beneath the surface. The part of the temj
where it has been buried is now converted ir
a Greek church, dedicated to St. George ; but
it is left open during particular times of t
year, and is always liable to be entered
foraging animals who creep into such retrea
we thought it probable that the body would
disturbed unless further precaution were use*
and at any rate it was proper that some sto
should be laid upon the spot. Having therefc
obtained permission to take up the coffin, a:
after spending tome part of the summer of 1798 under the hospib
roof of Spencer Smith, Esq. the English Minister, he took his depart
for the Grecian Islands ; and having traversed the provinces of Jf
donia, and Thessaly, arrived at Athens; where, after a resident
several months, he reached the period of all his learned laboors, on
25th of July 9 1799.
Mr. TweddeU, independent of the advantages which his own n
secured for him in the countries which he visited, possessed ree
mendations and facilities of a superior kind for conducting his lear
pursuits ; and his industry keeping pace with his talents and op]
tunities, his Collections and Manuscripts are known to have been ex1
sive and singularly valuable. Perhaps no traveller of modern ti
has enjoyed in an equal degree the means of investigating the Anti
ties of Greece.
ATHENS. 291
Lmtri promising to superintend the work, we chap.
endeavoured to provide a proper covering for the
grave; promising to send an inscription worthy
of the name it was destined to commemorate.
Large blocks of Pentelican marble from the
Parthenon, which had been sawed from the bas-
rt&tfs intended for our Ambassador, were then
lying in the Acropolis ready for the purpose : we
therefore begged for one of these ; and before
we left Athens, every thing had been settled,
and seemed likely to proceed according to our
wishes1.
This beautiful Doric temple, more resembling,
(1) A curious tort of contest bat, however, since impeded the work
Other English travellers arrived in Athens; and a dispute arose,
by the feuds and jealousies of rival artists and opposite
in politics, both as to the nature of the inscription, and the
who should be allowed to accomplish the work. At length, it
k said, that, owing to the exertions of Lord Byron, and another
asst enterprising traveller, John Fiott Lee, LL.D. of St. John's Col-
law* Cambridge* the stone has been laid ; and the following beautiful
Bptaph, composed by Mr. Walpole in 1805, has been inscribed thereon.
EStoc if fOifiivourr fidrnv Sof iifc wor* tfptyac
"AvOta, kcu 0< yiov Movtr' tyiXjf <rc parnv.
'AAA4 p&roY rot oiua to yijivov du^ucaXv-wrti
Twfifioc rj}y ^v\^v ovpavoQ aiirvg fytu
*H/u* 9* hi fftfikot, fiXov wf, tard Sdxpv %iovTic,,
Mrtjfta fiko+poeivnc., x\*p6v, 6cvpoui9a,
*H£* y* ofimc kcu rtpxvbv ix*w rovr* tonv, 'A0HN AIX
~Qc <rv, fipiravvoQ twv, Ktiatai Iv owoSig.
u 2
292
ATHENS.
chap, in the style of its architecture, the temples ol
Wv Pcestum than that of Minerva in the Acropolis.
Descrip- . .
tjonofthe and the most entire of any of the remaining
structures of Antient Greece, were it not for the
damage which the sculptures have sustained,
may be considered as still perfect. The ruined
state of the metopes and frieze has proved indeed
a very fortunate circumstance ; for it was owing
solely to this that the building escaped the
ravages which were going on in the Parthenon.
Lusieri told us there was nothing but what was
considered as too much mutilated to answer the
expense and difficulty of taking it down1. The
entire edifice is of Pentelican marble : it stands
east and west, the principal front facing the east;
and it is that kind of building which was called
by antient architects, as it is expressed in the
(1) Accordingly we read,— t( As the walls and columns of thb
monument are. in their original position, no part of the sculpture has
been displaced, nor the minutest fragment of any kind separated from
the building." (Memorandum, p. \%. Lond. 1811.) There is nothiaf
said here of the " impending ruin" (Ibid. p. 8.) to which the remaining
sculpture is exposed ; nothing of " the zeal of the ear]y Christians"
(p. 11.) and "the barbarism of the Turks:" but we are told that
" the temple itself (p. 19. J is very inferior in decorative sculpture la
the Parthenon;" and this remark, made with great naivete', most
happily explains the hair-breadth escape of the building from the ill-
judged rapacity which has tended to the ruin of the noblest monuments
of Greece.
\
\
ATHENS.
293
language of Vitruvius, and explained by Stuart, chap.
a Peripteros ; that is to say, it has a portico of ^
six columns in each front, and on each side
a range of eleven columns, exclusive of the
columns on the angles. All these columns
remain in their original position, excepting two
that separated the portico from the proriaos,
which have been demolished. Every circum-
stance respecting them has already been often
detailed. Like all pillars raised according to
the most antient Doric style of buildiug, they
are without bases or pedestals ; standing, with
inexpressible dignity and simplicity3, upon the
pavement of the covered walk around the cell
of the temple. Some of the metopes represent
the labours of Hercules ; others, the exploits of
Theseus; and there are some which were never
adorned with any sculpture. Above the antes of
the pronaos is a sculptured frieze, the subject of
(*) See Stuart's Athens, vol. III. p. 5. Lond. 1704.
(3) * The awful dignity and grandeur in this kind of temple, arising
from the perfect agreement of its parts, strikes the beholder with a
sensation which he may look for in rain In buildings of any other
description There is a certain appearance of eternal
duration in this species of edifice, that gives a solemn and majestic
feeling; while every part is perceived to contribute its share to this
character of durability These considerations will
convince us, that no material change can be made in the proportions
of the genuine Doric, without destroying its peculiar character." See
Revelry's Pre/, to vol. III. of Stuart's Athens, p. 14. Lond\ 1794.
294 ATHENS.
chap, which cannot now be determined ; and the
battle of the Centaurs and Lapitha is represented
upon a similar frieze of the posticus. In the
tympanum of the pediment, over the eastern front,
Stuart observed several holes in the marble,
where metal cramps had been fixed for sus-
taining sculpture in entire relief, as over the
eastern entrance to the Parthenon1. The action
of the atmosphere, in this fine climate, upon the
marble, has diffused over the whole edifice, as
over all the buildings in the Acropolis, a warm
ochreous tint, which is peculiar to the ruins of
A (hens : it bears no resemblance to that black
and dingy hue which is acquired by all works
in stone and marble when they have been
exposed to the open air in the more northern
countries of Europe, and especially in England.
Perhaps to this warm colour, so remarkably
characterizing the remains of antient buildings
at Athens, Plutarch alluded, in that beautiful
passage2 cited by Chandler1, when he affirmed,
(1 ) See Stuart's Athens, vol. HI. p. 2. Land. 1794.
(2) "09 tv Kai paWov Oav/ia&rat ra UipucXiovc ?p?a irpAg wokir
Xpovov iv 6\iy<f> ytvofitva, koXXii fikv yap txaorov ti/0$£ $v r6rt
apxdiov, axpy 3i ui%P* v*>y "xpba+aThv Ian Kai vtovpySv o$tvc IwavBu
r*c KaivoTtjc ati &9iktov vwb rov gprfvov itartipovva rqv fyiv, Q2IIEP
AEI6AAE2 IINEYMAKAI YYXHN ArHPQ KATAMEMirMENHN
TON EPrQN EXONTON. Plutarch. in Vit. Pericl. torn. L p. SOS.
land. 1720.
(3) Tra?. io Greecetc. 0. p. 30. Oxford, 1776.
A THE KB. 295
that the structures of Pericles possessed a pecu- chap.
liar and unparalleled excellence of character ;
"a certain freshness bloomed upon them, and pre-
served their faces uninjured, as if they possessed
a aever-fading spirit, and had a soul insensible to
age." In the description given of the Theseum
by Pausamas, he mentions rPA$AI among the
decorations4; and Chandler gives this word as
be found it in the original text of that author5,
without rendering it, as some have done,
"pictures" or "painted representations." The
very subjects of those representations corre-
spond with the remaining sculptures upon the
metopes and frieze ; and Mycon, who is men-
tioned as the artist, was a statuary as well as
a painter. The history of the hero, to whose
memory this magnificent building was erected,
resembles, as to its probability, one of the
extravagant fictions of the " Arabian Nights ;"
and may be regarded as upon an equality with
the " Voyages of Sinbad" or the " Story of
Aladdin." That it was originally a tomb, like
all other Grecian temples, can admit of no doubt :
eight hundred years had elapsed, when Cimon
(4) rpa+ai ii c/ffi, c. r. X. Tiypatrrcu 8k iv ri$ rov 6i}ffi<i)g Uptf cat
9 Ktvraitpvv rat »/ AartQvv p&xi' PautanUt Attica, c. 17. p. 40.
£pt.ieo&
(5) Tfftf.in Greta, c. 14. p. 71. Oxf. 177G.
296 ATHENS.
chap, removed the precious relics from the Isle of
Scyros, which were here enshrined ; and the
circumstances of the brazen-headed lance and
sword, found with the bones said to have
belonged to Theseus, denote weapons of the
remotest ages1: but the manner in which the
place of his original interment had been pointed
out2, calls to mind the juggling of a later period,
when the mother of Constantine sought to dis-
cover the real timber on which the Messiah had
suffered crucifixion : so easy has it been in
every age to gratify a credulous and super*
stitious people, by delusions of pretended mira-
cles, and dreams of a particular Providence
interrupting the order of Nature for purposes
the most contemptible ; although in the history
of the world, few instances have occurred
where a monument of equal magnificence has
resulted from any idle and stupid fiction. The
building is believed to bear date from the event
( 1 ) EvpiQtj 8k OrjKfj rt/ityuXov avfiaroQ, aixfirj rt icapaxtipivti %aXKift
Kai £t>o£. Plut. in Pit. Thes. torn. I. p. 35. LontL 1789.
(2) ""Hv tik Kai Xaptlv airopia, xai yviZvai rbv r&fov, aptZiai nu
XaXtTroTrfTi t<3v Ivoucovvtuv fiapfiapwv. oitfilv aWa xai Ki/ittv tkinr
n)v vtjcov, <uf iv rotQ irtpi Utivov yeypavrai, koI ft\oTipovfttvo{
llavtvptiv, AETOY TINA TODON BOYNOEIAH KOHTONTOr, *£
faai, rtf ar opart Kai £ia<rri\Xoirof rolf 5vi>£t, Oiiai riW r»X?
evptpovriiTac, aviaKatytv. Plut, in Vit. Thes. p. 35. LoruL 1789.
ATHENS. 297
mentioned by Plutarch, both in his Life of Oman, chap.
and of Theseus; when, after the conquest of
Scyros, the son of Miltiades arrived in Athens,
bearing the mouldering bones and weapons he
had so marvellously discovered. They were
received by the Athenians, says Plutarch?, as if
Theseus himself had returned among them. The
solemnity of their interment took place in the
very midst of the city, near to the Gymnasium4 ;
accompanied by every splendid pomp and
costly sacrifice with which the Athenians, of all
people, were the most ready to appease the
manes of a departed hero. This event happened
during the Archonship of Apsephum ; so that the
Theseum has now braved the attacks of time,
of earthquakes, and of barbarians, during a
lapse of considerably above two thousand
years5 ; and its relative position with regard to
the Gymnasium renders it an important point of
(3) "Qpwtp ahrbv iirav(px^tAiV0V 'fc r^ torv. Ibid.
(4) Uapd rb vvv yvfivaciov* Ibid.
(5) The arrival of Cimon with the bones of Theseus happened in the
*me year as the birth of Socrates ; that is to say, in the fourth year
of the 77th Olympiad, 468 years before Christ, according to Corsini.
^schtlus and Sophocles then disputed the prize of Tragedy, which
*is adjudged to Sophocles. ( Vid. Chronieon ex Marmoribus Arun-
klumis, Epoch, 57.) If we allow, therefore, ten years for the building
of the temple, (and five has been considered a sufficient number,) this
edifice has stood nearly twenty-three centuries.
298 ATHENS.
chap, observation, whence the situation of many
other buildings of the antient city may be
ascertained.
Leaving the Theshmu, we again visited the
Areopagus; and we detached from the rock
some specimens of the remarkable aggregate
whereof this eminence consists. All the lower
part of it, as before mentioned, consists of
breccia ; but we found here a sparry carbonate of
lime, of a honey colour, exhibiting, by fracture,
imperfect prisms ranged parallel to each other.
Prom the Areopagus we proceeded to a little
chapel, situate upon the spot where the
Pirmean antient Pibjeban Gate of the city formerly
stood : near to this, as Pausanias relates1,
there was a tomb with an equestrian statue by
Praxiteles. The place where the gate was
situate may still be discerned j and also a part
of the northern limb of the " long legs" fiaxpa
cncAtj, extending from the city to the sea. We
then ascended towards the north of the Pirceean
Gate*, where may still be seen, in a state of the
most admirable preservation, the ground-plot
(1) Pautanue Attica, c. 2. p. 6. Lips, 1696.
(2) See the Plan qf Athens, engraved as a Vignette to the preceding
Chapter, No*. 1, and 2.
ATHENS. 299
and entire form of the Pnyx, or antient place chap.
v.
of Parliament of the Athenians ; as it was
appropriated by Solon to the assemblies of the
citizens3. This structure is not likely to be
much affected by the lapse of entire centuries :
almost the whole of it, even to the pulpitum for
the orators, which yet remains, is an excavation
of the rock ; and the several parts of it were
carved in stone, of one solid mass, with the
exception only of the semicircular area, the
farthest part of which from the pulpitum consists
of masonry4. In the perpendicular surface of
($) Uvtitf so called did rb fcvxvKv&aQai toiq X'iOoiq.
(4) That this place was really the Pnyx, is now universally the
opinion of travellers who have visited Athens, It had been called
AftBOPAOUS, and Odaum. Chandler was the first by whom it waa
accurately described. The altar and stone pulpit, which he mentions,
agree with its furniture as upon record. Chandler says these have
been removed; bat the pulpit, if not the altar, certainly remains.
A more attentive examination of the antiquities of Athena, if it effect
no change as to the name now given to this place, will very probably
alter the appellations too hastily bestowed upon some of the others.
Perhaps the Pnyx may be considered as better ascertained than almost
any remaining structure destitute of an inscription whereby it may be
identified ; and for this, the literary world is mainly indebted to the
Sari of Aberdeen, who carried on a very extensive examination of the
spot, sparing no expense during an excavation which he made here, to
hare this point determined. The dona votiva which he discovered are
very remarkable. (See the Extract from Mr, Walpole's Journal,
j».199 of this Vol.) But the site of the Odium of Pericles is entirely
unknown. It must have stood at the termination of the street of
the Tripods, The situation of the Prytantum remains also to be
determined ;
300 ATHENS.
chap, the rock, facing this area, are niches for the
votive tablets; the characteristic and most
genuine marks of places held in any peculiar
degree of consideration throughout the whole
of Antient Greece, and in every country where
her colonies extended. To approach the spot
once dignified by the presence of the greatest
Grecian orators; to set our feet where they
stood ; and actually to behold the place where
Demosthenes addressed the "Men of Athens,"
calling to mind the most memorable examples
of his eloquence j is a gratification of an exalted
nature. But the feelings excited in viewing the
Pnyx peculiarly affect the hearts of Englishmen :
that holy fire, so much dreaded by the Athenian
tyrants, and which this place had such a remarka-
ble tendency to agitate, burns yet in Britain:
it is the very soul of her liberties ; and it
strengthens the security of her laws; giving
eloquence to her Senate, heroism to her arms,
extension to her commerce, and freedom to her
determined ; and it cannot be said tbat our evidence for identifying
the three great buildings, the Temple qf Jupiter Olympius, the Tfoofrc
of Regilla, and the Theatre of Bacchus, with the remains which seve-
rally bear either of these appellations, is altogether satisfactory.
There is much to be done by future travellers ; and the excavations
which they may make, by bringing to light many valuable documents,
will greatly tend to illustrate the topography of the city.
ATHENS. 301
people: although annihilated in almost every chap.
country of the earth, it lives in England; and
its extinction there, like the going-out of the
ttcred flame in the Temple of Delphi, would be
felt as a general calamity. The circumstances
connected with the history of the Pnyx prove
how difficult a thing it was to subdue the love
of freedom among the Aniient Grecians. The
Athenian tyrants vainly imagined that it ori-
ginated solely in the position of the 0^/a,
or stone pulpit, whence the orators harangued
the people j forgetting that it is a natural prin-
ciple implanted by Providence in the human
heart Under the notion they had thus con-
ceived, they altered the plan of the Pnyx : the
fa* had been fronted towards the sea; they
Wonted it towards the land; believing that a
people diverted from allusions to maritime
affairs towards those of agricultural labour
would be more easy under an oligarchical
dominion1. The project was not attended with
the consequences that were expected ; the same
spirit yet prevailed : but this place was still
0) tabnurb /Styta rh iv Uvvki vtTottjfAivov &<tt' itropkivtiv wpbc.
*♦» faXaffffay, %ertpov o* rpiaKovra vpbc t$v X"fNiy airkarpf^ay,
"ifUftM n)v fiiy Kara QaXarrav 4px*}v, ykvtoiv tlvcu dti/toKpariaCt
^TtfXuu &' ijrrov ivaxtpaiyuv tovc ytttpyovvrac. Plutarch* in
ftn*f.p.9eg. torn. L Land. 1789.
302 ATHENS.
chap, considered as its source ; and at last, finding
that alterations of the structure availed nothing
towards its dissolution, the meetings in the
Pnyx were entirely abolished. The place itself
has, however, been suffered to remain unaltered
to the present day, and may serve to illustrate
passages in antient authors which before wert
hut imperfectly understood. A very accurate
design of the structure, as it now exists, has
been already published by Stuart, in which the
/3i?fca is represented : and if it were possible to
naturalize this word, it might be preferable to
any other, as applied to the pulpit, whence the
Grecian orators addressed the people. Rostrum
is a Roman appellation, and introduces associa-
tions of a foreign nature : the same remark
applies to Tribunal : Log turn, and Thymele, are
terms borrowed from the Grecian theatres:
it is Btma only which, upon the authority of
Plutarch, confines the name, and fixes the atten-
tion, accurately and exclusively, to the throne
of Grecian eloquence. Here we find the object
itself within the Pnyx, fronted towards the city
and the plain, exactly as it was left by the
Athenian Tyrants. The altar is also seen ;
forcibly illustrating, at this hour, the following
passage of the comic poet :
"Oarig Kparti vvv rov XlOov rovv ry UvvkL
/
ATHENS. 303
From this illustrious memorial of Athenian chap.
history, we descended once more to the Cade, or wv^/
hollow way, of Pausanias ; and, crossing the road
from the Piraeus, passed the Crypt <b of the Hill
of Musceus, and ascended to the Monument of Monument
Phtlopappus, standing upon its summit1. MuUum.
There is no account of this structure by any
antient author, if we except Pausanias; who
merely says of it2, that in the place where
Muubus was buried a monument was after-
wards erected, ivSpl 26(><p, without adding a
syllable as to his name or history ; which is
remarkable, considering the attention usually
bestowed by him upon objects much less worthy
of regard. It is within the walls of the antient,
although at some distance from those of the
modem city5 ; and the view from hence of the
Gtadel of Athens, the Sinus Saronicus, and the
neighbouring territories, is very striking.
Looking towards the sea, the eye commands
the ports of the Piraeus, Munychia, and Phalerus;
the isles of Salamis and JEgina ; and the moun-
tains of Peloponnesus, as far as the Gulph of
Argos. The frequent mention of it by other
0) See tiie Plan of Athens, as a Vignette to the preceding Chapter,
Ho. 4.
(*) Pausani* Attica, e. 26. p. 61. Lips. 1606.
(3) See the Plan ; Vignette to the preceding Chapter.
304 ATHENS.
travellers1, added to the beautiful views of
several parts engraved for Stuart's '• Antiquiti
of Athens*," render any descriptive detail u
necessary. It is supposed, from the inscriptio
upon its, that it was erected in the beginning
the second century. Stuart, in opposition
Wheler and Spon, believed it to have been raise
not in memory of a single individual*, but "
honour of the last king of Commagene, at
more than one of his descendants." It original!
consisted of three compartments between foi
Corinthian pilasters ; that is to say, of an arche
recess, containing a central sitting figure, am
having a square niche on each side of it. Beloi
these appeared three superb sculptures in relief
that in the centre, beneath the sitting statue
exhibits Trajan in a car drawn by four horsey a
(1) See Wheler, Span, Le Rcyt Stuart, Chandler, &c. &c.
(2) Vol. III. chap. 5. Plates 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8,9, 10, 11. LontLlW
(3) Under the figure in the left niche :
BASIAEYSANTIOXOrBASIAEQSANTIOXOY
Under the figure in the middle niche :
*IAOnAnn02Eni*ANOY2:BH2AIKYS
Upon the pilaster between these niches :
C* IVLIVS'CF* FABIA' AKTI0CHV8* PHILOPAPPV8 * COS* FRATB*
ARYALIS * ALLECTV8 * XNTBR* PR ABTORI08 * AB* IMP * CAESARR'Hl*'*
TRAIANO * OPTIMO * A VGV8TO * GEBMANICO • DACICO.
See Stuart's Athens, vol. III. e- «
(4) Ibid. p. 36.
ATHENS. 305
he is represented on many monuments of the tri- chap.
nmphs of that emperor ; and his figure here corre-
sponds with the image of him which is preserved
upon the arch of Beneventum in Italy. On either
tide, in square compartments, were seen the
attendants preceding and following the triumphal
car1. When Stuart visited Athens,\t was not more
perfect than it is now; but he was fortunate
enough to discover, at the bottom of the hill, two
itataes that had stood erect, in Roman habits ;
and these, being exactly in the same style of
workmanship with the sculptures still zemaining
on the monument, he supposed to have stood
above the two central pilasters6. But if this be
true, there were probably two other figures
above the remaining pilasters at the sides, to
complete the symmetry of the work ; which
Bright thus admit of easy restoration from the
tand of an artist willing to represent the whole
of this most stately monument as it originally
*Ppeared. The statues mentioned by Stuart
disappeared about thirty years after he left
Athens*.
(5) An that now remain! of this raperb itractore if exhibited by en
^Citing annexed to the Quarto Edition of thete Tra? eU, Vol. III. p.
^ from a Drawing made upon the spot by Preaux, in 1800.
W Sea Stuart's Athens, vol. Ill . p. 30.
(7) In 17S5. Se Stuart's Athens, ibid. Note (a).
VOL. VI. X
306 ATHENS.
Descending from the Museum, we observed
some remains of the antient walls of the
^^f city upon its southern side, and of the entrance
from Phalerum1. The vestiges of these wall*
also appear extending towards the Monument
ofPhtiopappus, which they inclosed: thence they
bore off towards the Pirtsean Gate, in a line ol
direction almost due north and south*. After-
wards, crossing the plain, we visited the Theatbb
**■"?* fcfld Cave of Bacchus ; and some substruction!
and Goo*
of Bac- Were shewn to us by Signor Lusieri, which he
conceived to be the foundations of a templt
dedicated also to the same Deity. Nothing
exists now of the Theatre, excepting the coilon
for the seats, as in the earliest ages of dramatic
representation it was universally formed, by
scooping the sloping side of a rock3. But how
majestic, and how perfect in its preservation,
Monument rises the Choragic Monument of Thrasyttus
jJtfufT0" above this theatre*! and how sublime the
whole groupe of objects with which it was
(1) See the Plan, Vignette to the preceding Chapter.
(2) Ibid. No. 19.
(3) Ibid. No. 16.
(4) Ibid. No. 14. The best representation of it is in Le B*l
(* Burnet de la Grice* PL 8. Parte, 1768) ; now the more TaluabU
as the monument, in its present mutilated state, no longer exhibits tli
appearance it then presented.
ATHENS. 307
associated at the time of our visit, and before chap.
y
the work of dilapidation had commenced — wv*w
the antient sun-dial ; the statue of the God ; the
pillars for the tripods5; the majestic Citadel!
The last of these has indeed defied the deso-
lating ravages of Barbaric power ; but who shall
again behold the other objects in this affecting
scene as they then appeared ? or in what distant
country, and obscure retreat, may we look for
their mutilated fragments? Often as these
monuments had been described, we observed
some things which perhaps have not been before
noticed. This part of the rock of the Acropolis
consists of a hard red breccia, similar to that
which was observed at the Areopagus. Towards
the left of the Monument of Thrasyllus the
surface of the stone has been planed perpendi-
cularly ; and here, beneath the two Choragic
Pillars, we saw, upon the rock, an Inscription, Rem&rka-
alluded to, but not copied, by Stuart6, and^/nfcr*'
mentioned by no other writer. It extends in
t*o parts, which may have belonged to two
feparate legends, one above the other; but the
characters are alike in both, and they are deeply
(*) See the Plan, No. 13.
(6) Antiq. of Athens, vol. II. p. 7. Land. 1787. Stuart wrote
A*B8H2AN fur ANK6E2AN.
X 2
308 ATHENS.
chap, engraven in the stone, after the manner of tho*
Inscriptions which we discovered at Jerusalem
over the doors of the tombs in Mount Sum*
The only letters sufficiently perfect to be legibl
are the following ; but the termination of th<
upper line could not be ascertained, and thi
line was remarkably separated from the lowea
part of the inscription by a natural or artificial
linear cavity in the stone :
AI1EIZWNIANOZAAI . . .
TFinOCANEOECAN
la its very imperfect state, it must be left to <bf
conjectures of the learned*. The important*
of its situation, and the circumstance of ill
never having been published before, certainlj
entitles it to the Reader's notice* As to ill
interpretation, it evidently refers to the erectioi
of tripods: this appears both from the worA
of the inscription, and from its contiguity to ftl
Choragic Pillars. The name Pisonianus seen
to occur before Am; and these letters maj
(1) See VoL IV. of the Octavo Edition of these Travels, p. 336, &e.
(2) Tpiirog is found in Hetychius. The use of the verb AvkOteavocOB
thus in Lucia* : "YXag dircri/tovro, cat Spij 4yt0c*ay, cai Spwtm set**
9*9**9 ««* ri fvra iwefiifuotw Udonp <kf Monies dedktnoi,**
consterArunttunie%tiqu€ Deo*
ATHENS. 309
have reference to the word A«u/i*>v, in one of its chap.
Mies. Bacchus bears the title of Danum
throughout the Baccha of Euripides'. With
regard to the Crypt which is behind the Monu*
mmi of ThrasyUui, by some called the Cave of
Baeekusy and now a Greek chapel bearing the
sppeHatiob of Pamgia SpiUotissa, or the Blessed
lady of the Grotto* it is decidedly mentioned
by Pausanias ; and his allusion to it, added to
tie description which he gives of its situation,
lerves to identify the Theatre* He says it
attained a tripod, with the figures of Apollo and
Dicma, represented as destroying the children
tf Niobtf. But its more antient history may
pfcibly refer to an earlier period than that of
&e choraoic games of the Athenians, afcd to
customs which existed in Attica long before the
institution of the Dionysia. That it ought not
to have been considered as necessarily asso-
ciated with the structure now placed before it,
W*0 Utymv, o AU>g watc. *. 417. rbv taipoy §Urfipmv riov. r.
***• f&rtrra OmfrolQ SaLftovcu t. 42. Ip+avijc talpuv /Sporolg. r. 22,
«W 1604.) cr.X. The Greek Writen, and especially the Poetf,
■■tftteword Aaifimv m applied to a God, or Goddsu.
(4) IN AB THI KOPY*>HI TOY OEATPOY, SDHAAION SSTIN
** TA1S nETPAIS TOO THN AKPODOAIN. Tpixovg tkixmrrt
*t fttry. 'A*6XVm y tik Jv attrif *ai "Aprtfuc ro*c wdttac tleiv
***ptWTi* ro*s Ni40ik, PauKmiaAttica,c.2l,p.49. Lips. 1696.
310 ATHENS.
chap, seems to be evident from the circumstance <
v.
w~v^/ the entrance being closed when the building ws
added. Iq the inscription upon the middle <
the architrave and immediately over the centa
pilaster of the monument, no mention is mad
of the grotto : the legend appears to refc
only to the structure whereon it is inscribed
From this it may be conjectured, that the cav
was one of the most antient sepulchral crypt
of the first settlers upon this rock ; there ai
many others of a similar nature, fronting th
Phalerum in the approach to Athens, and in th
Hill of Musceus. It is precisely in the situatio
where such caves were often constructed fc
sepulchral purposes, by the earliest Grecia
colonies, and by the inhabitants of all the easier
shores of the Mediterranean; that is to say
upon the outside and beneath the walls of tin
Acropolis; being hollowed in the rocks upoi
which their citadels were erected. Instances o
this custom have been mentioned more thai
once, in the former parts of this work8. Hen
Joe Plant, we were gratified by finding the Ice-plan
(Mesembryanthemum crystallinum Linn.) sprout
ing luxuriantly, in its wild and native state
(1) See Chandler's Trav. In Greece, p. 63. Oxf. 1776.
(2) See Vol. II. of the OcUto Edition of these Travels, Cbsp. ^
p. 09.
ATHENS. 311
among the rains : it was now in seed' ; and we chap.
collected the capsules to send to England?.
This was the only spot in all Greece where we
remarked this plant. The observations of former
travellers prove it to be an Athenian, plant5 ; yet
it had been transported to England, and was
cultivated there so early as the beginning of the
hit century6.
On the following day we set out to visit those
prodigious columns, which, owing to their mag-
nitude and situation, are almost everywhere in
view, bearing traditionally the name of Hadrian's
Pillars. In our way thither, we passed beneath
*n arch which conducted from the old city of ^rck <f
_ •* WW m m
Theseus to the New Athens built by Hadrian ;
upon which the several appellations of Porta
Sadrianay Arch of Theseus, and Arch of ^Egeus,
have been bestowed7. Its situation with respect
(S) October 90.
(4) We eoOeeted many rare plant* In the neighbourhood of Athens;
Wt the fpedmenf were destroyed in their peatege home, by the wreck
*f the Princessa merchantman, oSBtachy Head.
(5) It was found near to Athens, by John Sibthorpe, M.D. Profeator
Of Botany at Oxford.
(6) In 1797, according to Bradley. See Martin's edit, of Miner's
Xhet. JUmaWWI.
(7) See WheUr, 8pon, Le Bop, Stuart, Chandler, Sec die. See alio
Ue Plan, Vignette to the preceding Chapter, No. 18.
31Q ATHENS.
chap, to the walls of the antient city, and the obliquity
v^v^/ of its position with regard to the peribolus which
inclosed the plane of Hadrian's Pillars* seems to
authorise an objection, already urged1, against
the notion of its having been originally a ga$^
Le Hoy's view of it8 is much finer, as to general
effect, than that which Stuart has given3, and
exhibits more of the grandeur of the original.
The stones are put together without cement;
but the work is adorned with a row of Corinthian,
pilasters and columns, with bases supporting au
upper tier in the same style of architecture,
thereby denoting a mode of building more ch*
raeteri8tic of the age of Hadrian than of any
earlier period in Athenian history. In the eft*
in origin, deayours which have been made to trace its
origin, and to ascertain its antiquity, it is some-
what strange that no one has stated, what the
first view of it seems to suggest as the most
probable opinion concerning this structure;
namely, that it was a triumphal arch, erected in
honour of Hadrian, upon his coming to Athbhs.
Stuart has observed4, that " it appears evidently
(1) Stuart's Aotiq. of Athens, as abort cited.
(S) Let Raines des pins beaux Monumens de la Greet, PL SI.
Park, 1757.
(3) Antiq. of Athens, toL HI. c 3. PL 1. Land. 1794.
(4) Ibid. p. SO.
A f H £ H S. 913
■ot to have bees connected with, or to hate cn£*'
aide a part nt, any other building, but to have
ben originally intended to remain insulated."
He tlso considers the inscriptions upon the two
■des of it " as a complimentary effusion of gra-
titude to a liberal benefactor ;" and yet he has
been induced, by the forced construction of a
paage » Plutarch, to believe this building to
he the Arch of JEgtus, rebuilt by the Raman
Emperor. If thie had been the case, and if
Hadrian, as he supposes^ had really restored a
venerable fabric owing to any regard for the
touderation in which its original founder was
held, he would not surely have opposed his
ova feme to that of Theseus, as we find it to
be vaunted in the two inscriptions upon the
uth1. it seems more reasonable to suppose
Art these inscriptions were placed by the
Athenians upon a triumphal arch erected in
honour of Hadrian, as adulatory testimonies of
their regard for a patron to whose munificence
their city was so much indebted, and as the
^ — — *«— — — *■ ■■ ■■ ■
(6) On the aouth-etuUrn side,, towards the AeropoUi :
iUEI£A6HNAI6H2EQSHDPINnOAIl
Hm mini Athmm Thuti quondam m+$.
^ttiMKAHMton lid©, kmards the Temple of Jmpitwr Olympbu:
AIABI2AAFIAN0YK0YXieH2B02D0AI2
HanMAthtnm Badrkmi, ei nequaquam Th*m4 urbt.
314 ATHENS.
chap, highest compliment they could bestow. That
Hadrian coveted the thanks and praises of
dependent states ; that he sought to be so
rewarded for the favours he conferred upon
them ; seems to be evident, from one of his
epistles alluding to the acknowledgments made
by the people of Alexandria for his bounty to
their city, and already cited in a former part of
this work1. The form and style of the struc-
ture also agrees with this opinion of its origin ;
for it resembles the usual form of the triumphal
arches raised in honour of the Roman Emperore*.
It is built entirely of PenteUcan marble ; nor was
this magnificence inconsistent with the materials
commonly used in constructing triumphal arches*
The arches of Romulus, it is true, were of brick;
and that of Camillus was of plain square stone ;
but those of Caesar, Drusus, Titus, Trajan, and
(1) See Vol. V. Chap. VII. p. 368.
(2) The first specimen of Grecian arcbiteetare erected In Great
Britain was modelled from this arch ; and the remains of the copy,
although offering a paltry imitation, aad upon an Insignificant scab,
may still be seen in the University of Cambridge. It » the soatiaera
front of the gate of Ccdus College, facing the Senate Houee and PubBc
Library; erected in 1557, by John Cains, M.D. after designs by Jafta
of Padua. And as this formerly served to support a Dial, before the
erection of the Senate Houee prevented any farther obsenration of the
shadow of the Gnomon, it is probable the Athenian arch had the same
use ; the position of which proves decidedly that it was not one of the
Gates of the Peribolue of the temple of Jupiter Olumpim.
ATHENS. 315
Gordian, were, like this of Hadrian* entirely of chap.
warble. In addition, it may be urged, that %*n^
trophies of this kind were unknown in Greece
before the time of the Raman Emperors. The
mere circumstance of its form is therefore
almost decisive as to its origin ; for the practice
of erecting arches, as monuments of noble
enterprises, and in honour of distinguished
personages, was not a Grecian but a Raman
custom. Its proper appellation seems there-
fore to be that which tradition, supported by
the evidence of an inscription upon its south-
eastern side, has long assigned to it; namely,
the Arch of Hadrian : and the occasion of
its erection will be found in the remarkable WhV\
ereoted.
event of Hadrian's return to Athens for the con-
secration of the identical temple to which this
arch conducted: this happened early in the
second century3. Three years only had elapsed
since the Emperor entered into the priesthood
of the Eleusinian Ceres ; an event which was
distinguished by the martyrdom of many
Athenian Christians, with Publius their bishop4.
The Heathens were therefore animated by every
emotion of religious zeal, and by every
(2) A.D. 128. (4) A.D. 126.
318 ATHENS.
chap, sentiment of gratitude, to receive with all the
honours of triumph the patron who had restored
the temples of their Gods \ the champion who
had trodden down the enemies of their faith1*
If ever, in the history of the world, there was a
time when it was peculiarly appropriate that a
triumph should be decreed, it was at this period,
and upon this occasion. The antient city
seemed to revive with more than pristine splen-
dour from its ruins. Ever since die age of
IH&Barchus, its condition had been described as
so wretched, that foreigners, upon the first
sight of it, would scarcely believe they beheld
what once had been so renowned a city* : but
a new Athens had arisen under the auspices of
the Emperor. Magnificent temples, stately
shrines^ unsullied altars, awaited the benedic-
tion of the sacerdotal monarch ; and it would
indeed have been marvellous if the Athenian**
Hatiurally prone to adulation, neglected to
bestow it upon a benefactor so well disposed
0) Upon hit *eturn to Athms, Hadrian pretided ai magttrafteat
the celebration of the Dionysia, and wore the Athenian drees. He alto
gave to the Athenians the leland Cwpuallebia. Vid. XHk Cam.*
VU. Hadrian.
(2) 'Airiffra0fi« ? av i£ai*>9C vwb rd* &v*v 9$*povpivn, d ato+
tori* r, wpoffayopivofUvn r*v 'AOnraUnr w6\tc. Dkmardd 8tmtm$
Grccim,p. 8. Oxon. 1700.
AT HEN 6. 317
for its reception. The triumphal arch was of chap.
coarse prepared ; and lasting characters, thereon
inscribed, have proclaimed to succeeding ages
that " tbs Athens of Hadrian had eclipsed
THE CRT OF ThbSBUS."
We now advanced towards the stupendous
pillars which also bear the name of that
emperor ; and a much more difficult task would
remain, if we should undertake to devedope the
circumstances of their history. According to
the routine of objeets as they were observed by
on this side of the city, the hundred
twenty pillars of Phrygian marble, erected
by Hadrian, were in this situation ; that is to
say, south-eastward of the Acropolis*. Sixteen
columns of white marble, each six feet in
diameter, and nearly sixty feet in height, now
remain standing; all of the Corinthian order,
beautifully fluted, and of the most exquisite
workmanship*. But, by the appearance of the
(S) TA ft Iwifarivrara, Uar6* sUoei kIoviq wpvyiov Xi0ov. Pammu
Attica, p. 43. Zsjm. 1S96.
(4) Bach is their extraordinary aba, whan ootnparad with the rela-
tive proportfen of any other architectural pillars to natural objeets,
that in every representation of them hitherto engraven, where figures
of Ifcrfag befogs have been introduced by the artist to aflbrd a seals for
the* ilimiSMiiiiii, tot design has been frustrated by the reluctance of
the
318 ATHENS.
chap, plane upon which the columns stand, Wheler
^n^' was induced to believe that there were origi-
nally six rows of pillars, and twenty in each
row, which would complete the number men-
tioned by Pausanias1. Chandler and Stuart
are the first authors who have described the
Columns of Hadrian as the remains of the Temple
Tempi* °f J up iter Olympius8. Le Roy considered
%k^ku. them a& a Part of the Pantheon*; a name
bestowed occasionally, by different travellers,
upon almost every building in Athens, whether
in the upper or in the lower city. Theodosius
Zygomalas, author of the Letter to Martin Crusius,
published in 1583, mentions the Parthenon*
the engraver to represent these figures sufficiently diminutive. Unable
to conceive the existence of columns of such magnitude that a man of
ordinary stature may remain concealed within any of the canelureSf
some addition, as usual, has been made by the engraver to the size of
tbe figures, and the apparent magnitude of the architecture has been
thereby diminished.
(1 ) " Which, therefore, must be that hundred and twenty, Pausan ias
speaketh of, as built by the Emperor Hadrian, of Phrygian marble*
being whiter than that of Pentelicus" Journey into Greece, Book V.
11.371. Lond. 1682.
(2) See Trav. in Greece, vol. II. p. 74. Oxf. 1776. Also Antiq. of
Athens, vol. III. p. 1 1 . Lond. 1794.
(3) Let Buines dee plus beaux Monument de la Grice, PL 88. p. 35.
Paris, 1768. Le Boy's View of the Ruin is perhaps the finest in that
magnificent work.
(4) This circumstance is alluded to by Spon, (Voyage de Grtce, fe.
torn. II. p. 37. a la Haye, 1784.) but it may have originated in an
error
ATHENS. 319
under this last appellation. Guilletiere affirms chap.
positively, that the principal mosque in the ^^-v-^/
lower city was the Pantheon*, and afterwards JJjJJJJJ*
describes it as superior to that of Home. A*****
recent traveller6 applies the name, and with
more reason, to an edifice described by Stuart
as the Poikile1, and by Wheler as the Olympihtm8.
In this imperfect state of our knowledge with
regard to the real history of these pillars, as of
many other antiquities in Athens, the author
would leave the question to be decided by
at the transcriber of Zygomatics Letter, or in an error of the
: w&vBtop being written for xapBivuv. The words are: "To
w&vOiov : oUotofi^v, vuAcay xaoag oixo$Ofi&c : yXv-rr&c Jicroc. iia
wewsjc i^fC oUodofiiic i%ovoav roc, Xoroplac, 'EAA^vwv : col ravraf t&c
0il«C. IpeomPanthenm: quod est axliflcium,aliis omnibus excellentius:
in i{ao extra circumqu&que historic Gnecorum sculpts sunt, et qnidem
divines." (Fid. Turco-GreecUe, lib. vii. p. 430. Basil. 1683.) The
anther le here evidently describing the Parthenon ; and, at be afterwards
mentions the horses of Praxiteles, u ixavm rijc ptyaXnc. wvXrjc (supra
magnam portam)," it is not very probable that he believed the building
to be the Pantheon of Hadrian : unless, indeed, he alluded to the horses
which were on each side of the Propyleuu
(5) **n y a trois mosquees a Athenes: one dans le chasteau, qui
eat rineomparable temple de Minerve; et deux dans la ville, dont la
prmcipale est le fameux Panthion, qn' Adrian y fit bestir." Voyage
f Athene* , p. 166. Paris, 1676.
(6) Mr. Wilkin*. See the Plan engraved for the Work about to be
published by Mr. Walpole, on Parts of Greece, Asia, and Egypt, from
the M8. Journals of Travellers in the Levant.
(7) Antiq. of Athens, vol. I. c. 6. p. 37. Land, 1762.
(8) Journey into Greece, Book V. p. 90S. Land. 1689.
320 ATHSNt.
GAAP, subsequent investigation, and by the discoveries
v* which the excavations of future travellers may
bring to light, were it not for the recent observa-
for the
Name*- tions upon this subject by the Earl of Aberdeen1 f
signed to * »
iu added to the plan of this mighty structure as
afforded both by Chandler* and by Stuart? from
their own personal observations; which seem
to place the history of the building beyond a
doubt, and prove it to have been the Temple of
Jupiter Olympic constructed with double rows of
columns, ten in front, and twenty-one in flank*
amounting in all to one hundred and twenty-
four ; the extent of the front being one hundred
and seventy-one feet, and the length of the flank
more than four hundred : of which sumptuous
and stately temple, these pillars are the majestic
ruin. The area, or peribolus, within which it
stood, was four stadia in circumference. " Rome,"
says Chandler*, " afforded no example of this
species of building. It was one of the four marble
edifices which had raised to the pinnacle of
renown the architects who planned them9 ; men,
(1) Introduction to WWtim's Ifcjms. of Ffcmwtu, p. 60. See
Note (1) to p. 9. of the Text of that Wor*. ZmmL 181S.
(S) Tray, in Greece, vol. II. c 15. p. 74. Onf. 1776.
(8) Antiq. of Athena, vol. III. c S. PL 8. LemL 1794.
(4) Trav. in Greece, as above cited.
(5) Antiatotts, CaUmtchrot, Antimaehide$9 and Perimu, were the
earlier architects employed on this fabric
ATHENS. 321
it ia said, admired in the assembly of the Gods chap.
for their wisdom and excellence." Some of the
columns still support their architraves; one of
which, being measured while we were in Athens,
was found to equal three feet in width ; and,
although of one entire piece of marble, it
extended, in length, twenty-two feet six inches6.
Upon the top of the entablature, on the western
side of the principal groupe, is shewn the
dwelling of a hermit, who fixed his solitary
abode upon this eminence, and dedicated his
life entirely to the contemplation of the sublime
objects by which his mansion was everywhere
surrounded. Seventeen of these pillars were
standing in 1676 : but a few years before
Chandler arrived in Athens, one was thrown
down, for the purpose of building a new
mosque in the market-place. Such instances
of dilapidation on the part of the Turks are,
(6) What the feelings of the Athenians must have been upon the
restoration of this temple, may, in some degree, be collected from
the following observations of Plutarch, and of Diccearchus, concerning
the edifice in its imperfect state. 'Uc yap >/ -jtoXiq rS»v 'AOrjvaiwv to
'OXvuxttiov, oZrvc. // UXarwvoQ acxpia rijv 'ArXavrixav iv ttoXXoTq
koXmq fiSvov Ipyov areXlc laxvKlv' (Plutarch* extremo Solone.)
THe&archus seems to have had a foresight of its future splendour. He
says : 'OXvutciov, rjptTtXkQ piv, KardfrX^iv 8* 1%0P TVQ oiKofouriffeutc.
vxoypaf qr ytvouivov d* av I&Xtuttov, EI SYNETEAESOH. Diccearch.
Dutript, QrcBc, ap. Meurs De Athenis Atticxs, lib, i. c. 10.
VOL. VI. Y
322 ATHENS.
chap, fortunately, very rare ; and we find that, in this
.^3^/ instance, the damage done to the remains of the
temple was made a pretext for extorting fifteen
purses from the Governor of Athens; a tax
levied by the Pasha of Negropont, as expressly
stated, for the violence committed by the Wai-
wode in overthrowing the pillar.
iiissut. Descending from the area of the temple
towards the Ilissus, we visited the fountain
Fountain
cauirhoe. Callirhoe, sometimes called JEnneacruhus1. We
observed niches in the rock, for the votive offerings,
where there had been a cascade : and hereabouts
were, in all probability, the altars of those
Muses mentioned by Pausanias, who were
called Ilissiades. Afterwards, as we examined the
channel of the river, for a considerable extent,
we found it to exhibit such evident traces of a
powerful current having worn away the solid
_sr* of its rocky bed, that we were
s it could not formerly have been
False No- Cu* ^ty the appearance it now exhibits ;
tajnedDofr" namefy> *- *-*n occasional torrent, sometimes
the River, fay throughout * e entire year. Chandler says, he
visited it several times after snow had fallen on
(1) Vid. MextrsU Ceramic. Gemin. c. 14. ap. Gronov. The$mwr. Grmt.
torn* IV. p. 982. L. Bat. 1699.
ATHENS. 323
the mountains, and after heavy rain -, but that he chap.
never found even the surface of the channel to be
covered with water : it lodged only in the hollows
of the stone, and trickled from one cavity
to another9. Yet we should reluctantly conclude
with that writer, that the Poets who celebrated
IUssus " as a stream laving the fields, cool and
lucid," either conceived or conveyed " a false
idea of this renowned water-course." Some
other cause must be assigned for the disagree-
ment of their descriptions with the real character
which the river now bears. The earliest tra-
veller whose work we have cited seems to have
(bond no difficulty in accounting for the loss of
the current, but, soon after his arrival at Athens,
distinctly states, that the water of the IUssus had
been diverted and divided by an infinite number of
rhmietSy cut on purpose to supply the fountains
in the gardens about the town8. In a former
part of his work he seems to insinuate that the
current had also been carried off for the use of
(*) Trmw. in Greece, vol. II. p. 79. Oaf. 1776.
(3) " Le pont est so&tenu de trois arches ; et au despous est le
eanal oa passoit I'lUIuus quand il estoit riviere, car aujourd'huy le
canal est tec ; VIUiuu$ a uM divert y, et partagS en une infinite de
rigoU*, qui s'epanchent de cost6 et d'autre, pour aller faire dcs jets-
d'ean dans lea jardini des environs de la ville." Voyage d'Athenet, par
Dt la GuUUtiere, p. 268. Parity 1675.
Y 2
324 ATHENS.
chap, the mills near to the city1 ; and those who hai
v* visited Troas know very well that a channel thi
diverted, for a single Turkish mill, is sufficient t»
carry off a torrent of water not less potent thai
was the stream of the Ilissus*. In the simpli
narrative of De la Guilletiere we have therefor*
sufficient evidence to justify a conclusion
although in opposition to Chandler, that th<
antient writers by whom the Ilissus is mentions
did not fall " into local absurdities and untruths',9
in their descriptions of that river : neither i
there any thing more justly reprehensible ii
literary matters, than the very common pro
pensity to depreciate the accuracy of Poets am
Historians, whenever a difficulty occurs ii
reconciling their statements with existing
appearances4.
(1) "Le Didascalos noas dit, que c'estoit la faute des moulins,*
que la riviere oVIUissus estoit pre'sentement coupe*e en tant de com**
qu'elle ne pouvoit foornir assez d'eau pour bien moudre le bled*
Ibid. p. 236.
(2) See GelVs Topography of Troy, p. 48. Lond. 1 804.
(3) See Chandler's Travels m Greece, vol. II. p. 70. Orf. 1778.
(4) Plato (in Pfued. torn. III. p. 229.) mentions the pure and Imp
waters of the Ilissus; but as this passage of that author is express!
alluded to by Mr. Walpole, in his MS. Journal, when writing upon U
same subject, his observations will now be added, as strongly suppor
ing the opinion already given. — "Neither wood nor water seem
have abounded in Attica. I did not meet a stream of any magnita
(excepti
ATHENS. 325
From the bed of the river — after visiting that chap.
part of it where the marble bridge of three arches, v^»J**»/
mentioned by all writers to the time of Stuart?,
conducted across the Ilissus to Agrjb6, the scene
of one of Plato's Dialogues7 — we ascended to
tow the remains of the Stadium Panathe- p^]£_
haicum, which was, in fact, a continuation of naicum'
(excepting the Cepbissus) in any part of it. a Dio Chrysostom says,
then are not great mountains to be seen, nor are there rivers flowing
through the country, jiijrt rrorafioi dtafipiovric., Orat. 6. Athens itself
m supplied with well-water ; hence the number of antient wells we
smotto cut in the rock about the city near Lycabettus. Pausanias
(Hb. L), as well as Plutarch in his Life of Solon, makes mention of
them. The exportation of wood and pitch was forbidden by law, as we
x*d from the Scholiast on a passage in the Knights of Aristophanes.
What the country afforded was required for the use of the navy.
Ihs Lyceum and Cynosarges were, according to Diceearcbus, Karditvdpa
9tU wooded ; because, as places of public resort, they were much
•Headed to ; but trees are not now to be found there. It would be
to difficult to find the pure and limpid waters of the Ilissus,
stfapd cm tiiafavr), which Plato mentions in the Phsdrus ; there is
Mver any quantity of water in the river-bed. In former times, the
channel was full. Besides the passage from Plato, the following allu-
•fae of Cratinus to a famous orator supports this opinion :
Ye Gods, what a flow of words is here !
Ilissus is in his throat. "iXioooc, iv ry fapvyi.
ad we know that the Pelasgi were accused of way-laying the Athenian
vonen, when they went from the city to draw water from the Ilissus."
—Walpole*s MS. Journal.
(5) See the View of it in Stuart's Athens. The bridge no longer
exists.
(6) Atapdm Sk tqv Et\e<r<rov, gupi'dy 'Aypai KaXov/itvov, k. t. X.
Pmtsani* Attica, c. 19. p. 45. Lips. 1696.
(7) The Phetdrus ; so called from one of the disciples of Socrates.
326 ATHENS.
chap, the bridge ; for the latter was seventy feet wid
^^^ and conducted immediately into the arena of tl
former. It has been usual to say of this mo
wonderful of all the marvellous works of Herod
Atticus1, that nothing now remans of its fonm
magnificence. To our eyes, everything nece
sary to impress the mind with an accurate idc
of the object itself, and of its grandeur, and <
the prodigious nature of the work, seemed 1
£xist as if it had been in its perfect state. Th
marble covering of the seats, it is true, n
longer appears ; but the lines are visible of th
different ranges ; and perhaps a part of th
covering itself might be brought to light by
removal of the soil. The absence of ornament i
of little consequence as to the general effect
the decorations of a Stadium, however costly i
(1) It was originally constructed by Lycurgus ; bnt it was rettosr
by Herodes, whose real name, as given by Spon from an Atkmm
inscription, was Tiberius Claudius At ticus B erodes. He lavished op
it the most enormous sums, covering it entirely with the white maH
of Moont Pentelicus. Pausahias did not expect to be credited, e*«
in the brief description of this work, as thus given : To &, aKovaaci **
ov% bfioivc Ixayvybv, Bavpa $' Mouai, ardtiov i<rrl Xivkov XiQov, ft
yiBoc ii avrov rydt av ric paXurra TtK/uupoiTo. &v**Qtv &poc, juris* r*
EiXurabv &p\6ptvov ^* Hivoutovc KaOrjKti rov xorapov wpoc t$v$x0*
tvOv T€ jccri hwXovv rovro avrjp 'AOqvaToc 'Hpt^ifc yKotoptjai, cai
rb woXb r »/c XtOorofiiac rife UtvriXytnv tg rqv otKO&opfiv awjX*&
Pausan. Attica, e. 19. pp. 45, 40. Lips. 16116.
ATHENS. 327
their nature, may be easily imagined ; and if, chap.
instead of having ransacked the quarries of
Pentelicus for its garniture, some more precious
material had been used, the superficial invest-
ment, in so vast a theatre, would not materially
have altered its general appearance. The
remains of Stadia still exist in different parts of
Greece; but this of Athens surpasses, as in the
days of its splendour, every other in the world.
Its form is so perfect, that the spectator tra-
versing the arena between its sloping sides,
towards the Cotton at its south-western extremity,
almost imagines himself to be transported to the
age in which it was prepared for the reception of
its innumerable guests : aud when seated in the
higher part of it, where people from all Attica,
ranged by thousands, beheld a still gathering
multitude, thronging eagerly toward the spot ;
•ray countenance being animated by the
greatness of the solemuitv, and every heart
beating with the most impatient expectation ;
how affecting is the scene before him ! Nothing
•
w wanted to render it more impressive, but the
actual presence of the pomp itself — the noise of
the chariots — the prancing and the neighing of the
horses — the sounds of the music — the exhibition
°f the combatants —and the shout of the people.
^yfcn the passages, through which ferocious
328 ATHENS.
chap, animals1 were conducted into the arena, and tl
^^/^ entrances and retreats for those who contest
prizes, yet remain almost in their entire stal
Nothing has been removed or destroyed, but tl
parts which were merely ornamental ; and the
are not missed in the general survey of a stru
ture necessarily simple as to its form, b
inexpressibly great and striking in its aspect
and this effect is owing, not solely to its artifici
character, but to the grandeur of its appearan
as a work of Nature; the very mountains havii
contributed to the operations of art, in
formation9. Such a combination may be oft
observed in antient theatres of a semicircul
form ; but there is not, either in Hellas or in A
Minor, an instance, where the natural lineamei
of the country have admitted of a simil
adaptation to the appropriate shape of t
Grecian Stadium. This splendid memorial
Attic splendour, and of the renown of a privi
citizen of Athens, became ultimately his fune
(1) When Hadrian was in Athens, he presided at the Panathe*
and caused one thousand wild beasts to be hunted in the Stadium.
the diversion of the people. " Athenis mille ferarum venationen
Stadio exhibuit:' Spartianvs, in ejus Vita, c. 19.
(2) There is a very fine view of it, as engraved by Landseer f
a drawing by Rcveley, in Stuart's Athens, vol. III. c. 7. PI. 3. Li
1704.
L
ATHENS. 329
monument : and a very curious discovery may chap.
be reserved for future travellers in the majestic
sepulchre of Eerodes himself; who was herej£g£j£,#
interred*, with the highest obsequies and most
distinguished honours that a grateful people
could possibly bestow upon the tomb of a
benefactor, who spared no expenses for them
while he was living, and every individual of
whom participated in his bounty at his death4.
A little eastward of the Stadium are the
vestiges of the Temple of Diana Agrcea.
Having again crossed the Ilissus, we observed
near to its nor them bank, some remains which
Stuart and others have considered as those of
the Lyceum. Hence we proceeded toward the
(8) The funeral of Herodes Attieus must hate afforded one of the
■** affecting solemnities of which History makes mention. He was
ftoty-six years old when he died ; and in the instructions which he
"» tor his interment, he desired to be buried at Marathon, where he
^ttborn; but the Athenians insisted upon possessing his remains, and
tfc? caused the youth of their city to bear him to the Stadium
P^tthenaicum, which he had built ; all the people accompanying, and
Pfcriag forth lamentations as for a deceased parent. 'AOnvtot, rate r£v
WW X*poiv apxdffavriSt Jcdorv fjvtyicav, wpoavavrUvrig rtp X«x«*
T**a qXuta iaepvoic. Upa, kcu ibfrjfWvvTiQ, ooa iraifcc, xp^^ov irarpdc
Xffifoamc. (Philostratus in qui Vita, Sophist, lib. \L Lips, 1700.)
^**t t subject for the pencil of a Raphael ! Historical painters some-
***** complain that every event in antient history has been already
"^Aled: here is one, at least, to which this complaint is not applicable.
W He bequeathed to every Athenian a sum nearly equal to three
P0***!* of our money.
330 ATHENS.
chap, east, to ascend Mount Anchesmus, and to
v.
wv^ enjoy in one panoramic1 survey the glorious
prospect presented from its summit, of all the
antiquities and natural beauties in the Athenian
Hadrian's Plain. At the foot of this mount were die
' remains of a reservoir constructed by Hadrian
for the purpose of receiving water for his new
city, after being conveyed by a most expensive
aqueduct, whose broken piers may be traced to
the distance of seven miles from the spot, in a
north-easterly direction, towards the country
between Parnes and Pentelicus. In Stuarts time,
part of an arcade of marble remained, con-
sisting of two Ionic columns, with their enta-
blature ; and the spring of an arch, containing
the fragment of an inscription, which was
remarkably restored by Spons discovery of the
entire legend in a manuscript at Zarc?. It
stated, that the work was begun by Hadrian* in
(1) Since the plan has been adopted in BngUmd of exhibiting the
▼lews of celebrated cities by tbe tort of painting called Panorama,
a hope ha* been excited that Athens will one day become the subject
of such a picture ; and for this purpose it is highly probable that
Mmmt Anehesmus will be made the point of obeerration. At the same
time, it is liable to this objection ; that the grandeur of effect Sa
always diminished in proportion to the elevation of the spectator.
The city makes, perhaps, a more striking appearance in the road from
Blbusis, immediately after tearing the defile of Daphne.
(9) WkeieY says at Spalatro. See Span, Voyage de DabnatU, §r.
torn. I. p. 51. a to Hays, 1724.
ATHENS. 331
the new Athens, and completed by his son chap.
Antoninus Piuf. The whole fabric is now
destroyed, so that even the site of the arcade
cannot be determined ; but the architrave yet
remains, with that part of the inscription which
was observed here when Wheler and Span
visited the spot : it forms the lintel or top of
one of the gates, leading toward its antient
situation, in the present wall of the city4. We
ascended to the commanding eminence of the
mount, once occupied by a temple of Anchesmian Mount
Jupiler. The Pagan shrine has, as usual, been "
succeeded by a small Christian sanctuary : it is
dedicated to St. George. Of the view from this
rock, even Wheler could not write without
emotion. " Here," says he5, " a Democritus
might sit and laugh at the pomps and vanities of
the world, whose glories so soon vanish ; or an
Heraclitus weep over its manifold misfortunes,
telling sad stories of the various changes and
events of Fate/9 The prospect embraces every
(S) IMP ' CAB8AB' T; ARLIY8 a HADRIAN T8 ' AH TON IN T8 ' AUG * PIV8*
COS" III • TBIB * POT * II * PP ' AQTABDYCTVM * IN " NOTI8 * ATHBNI8*
COBPTTM * A * DITO * HADBIANO * PAT RE ' BTO * CON8VMMAVIT'
DBDICATITQYB.
(4) 8ee the third volume of Stuarts Athens, ai edited by Reveley,
p. SS. Note (a). Land. 1704
(5) Journey Into Greece, Book V. p. 374. Lond. 1GS2.
332 ATHENS.
chap, object, excepting only those upon the south-wast
v^O^w side of the Castle. Instead of describing the
View fpnm
tbesommit. effect produced in our minds by such a sight, it
will be more consistent with the present under-
taking, to note down what the objects really are
which the eye commands from this place. It is
a plan we propose to adopt again, upon similar?
occasions, whenever the observations we mad. <
upon the spot will enable us so to do. Hx-*
situation of the observer is north-east of the city >
and the reader may suppose him to be lookin^§>
in a contrary direction, towards the Acropolir i
which is in the centre of this fine picture
thence, regarding the whole circuit of tl»_e
Citadel, from its north-western side, toward tl^^e
south and east, the different parts of it occur a~ n
the following order; although, to a spectator,
they all appear to be comprehended in one vie1
Central Object.
The lofty rocks of the Acropolis, crowned
with its majestic temples, the Parthenon,
JErectheum, &c.
Fore Ground.
The whole of the modern city of Athens,
with its gardens, ruins, mosques, and walls,
spreading into the plain beneath the Citadel.
A procession for an Albanian wedding, with
£3
ATHENS. 333
uusic, &c. was at this time passing out of one chap.
>f the gates. v"
Right j or North-Western Wing.
The Temple of Theseus.
Left ^ or South- Eastern Wing.
The Temple op Jupiter Olympius.
?iew beyond the Citadel, proceeding from West,
to South and East.
1. Areopagus. 2. Pnyx. 3. Ilissus. 4. Site
>f the Temple of Ceres in Agree, and Fountain
^alurhoe. 5. Stadium Panathenaicum, Site
>f the Lyceum, &c.
Parallel Circuit, with a more extended radius.
1. Hills and Defile of Daphne, or Via Sacra.
I. Piraeus. 3. Munychia and Phalerum.
I. Salamis. 5. jEgina. 6. More distant Isles.
K Hymettus.
Ditto, still more extended.
1. Parnes. 2. Mountains beyond Eleusis
and Megara. 3. Acropolis of Corinth. 4.
Mountains of Peloponnesus. 5. The ^Bgean
ind distant Islands.
Immediately beneath the eye.
1. Plain op Athens, with Albanians engaged
n agriculture } herds of cattle, &c. &c.
334 ATHENS.
chap. Hereafter, in describing prospects, where our
situation as spectators has been more elevated,
and the view thereby rendered still more exten-
sive, as well as the objects more numerous, we
shall complete an entire circumference ; noting^
our observations according to the points of ^
mariner's compass, after the plan adopted b^
Wheler. During the time that we were occu-
pied in making our survey from this eminence,
Lusieri began to trace the outlines of the inesti-
mable view of Athens which he designed, and
afterwards completed, upon this spot; adding
every colour, even the most delicate tints and
touches of his pencil, while the objects he deli-
neated were yet before his eyes1. We remained
with him during the greater part of the day:
and having now examined all the principal
antiquities in the immediate vicinity of Athene
we returned by the gate leading to Anches-
mus, where the inscribed marble, relating to
Hadrian9 8 reservoir for water at the foot of the
(l) In this manner he finished hii View of Constantinople, taken
from an eminence above the Canal ; working with hit colours in the
open air. His rival, Fauvtl, was not in Athens during the time of our
visit j a Frenchman equally renowned, for his talents as an artist, his
researches a* an antiquary, and his disinterested attention to sH
travellers, whether of bis own or of any other nation.
ATHENS. 335
mount, is now placed. After entering the city, chap.
we resolved to try our success by making an
excavation, not only in one of the tombs, but also
in the exhausted wells, of which there are many
in the neighbourhood of Athens.
VIEW >™ "" PARTHENON, actum thfaltiVH 8ARONICIO8.
r Acropolit 1/ Corinth.
t ^fountain near Megan.
* 7'Ar«ne of Xenc», fl( r
SsHfr o/Silamis.
CHAP. VI.
ATHENS.
Excavations — Great Antiquity of the Atheniar
Wells — Curious Inscription upon a Terra-cotta
Lamp — Excursion to Hymettus — Temple of
Diana— Monastery — Visit to the summit of the
Mountain — Plants — Panoramic Survey of the
Country^ — Return to Athena — Singular Adven-
ture that bejel the Author — Description of the
Ceremonies of the Bath, as practised by the
Turkish and Grecian Women — Further Obser-
vations in the Acropolis — Inscriptions— Speci-
men of Cadmasan Characters — Additional
Remarks upon the Parthenon — Effect of Su*
set behind the Mountains of Peloponnesus.
Having hired some Albanian peasants for
the work, and obtained permission from the
Waiwode, we began the examination of some of
tions.
ATHENS. 337.
the wells. Mr. Cripps, in the mean time, super- chap.
intended the excavation of a tumulus near the
road leading to the Piraeus ; but the difficulty
of carrying on any undertaking of this kind, Excava-
owing to the jealousy, not only of the Turks,
tat also of the Greeks, who always suppose that
jHBe. secret horde of gold is the object of
gpe^rch, renders it liable to continual inter-
fiptioD. After two days spent in opening the
tomb, we had the mortification to find that it
had been examined before ; and we had good
reason to believe that a knowledge of this cir-
cumstance was the sole ground of the easy
permission we had obtained to begin the labour
for the second time. In the examination of the
wells, we succeeded better ; but our acquisi-
tions were as nothing, compared with those
which have since been made1. The reasons
which induced the author to suspect that the
cleansing of an old well would lead to the
discovery of valuable antiquities, were these :
(1) Particularly by Mr. Dodwell, and by Mr. Graham of Trinity
College, Cambridge, son of Sir James Graham, Bart. The latter of
these gentlemen, in opening one of the wells, restored to the inhabitants
of Athene, to their great joy, a Tery fine spring of water, which burst
forth upon the remoyal of the rubbish by which the well was filled :
the moat valuable gift be could have made to a city where water is
particularly scarce.
VOL. VI. Z
338 A T H E N 9.
chap. first, the welts of Greece Were always the resort
of its inhabitants ; they were places of conver-
sation, of music, dancing, revelling, and almost
every kind of public festivity ; secondly, that theSr
remote antiquity is evident frotai the following
Great An- extraordinary circumstance. Over the
tiquity of •
the a the- of each well has been placed a massive marble
cylinder, nearly corresponding, as to its form*
ornaments, height, and diameter, with the
marble altars which are so commonly converted
by the Turks ifito mortars for bruising their
corn. A very entire altar of this shape is ia
the Cambridge Collection of Greek Marble?.
These wells had no contrivance for raising
Water by means of windlass, or even of the
simple lever8, common over all the North of
Europe, which is often poised by a weight at
the outer extremity3. The water rose so near
to the surface, that it was ahnost within reach
of the hand ; and the mode of raising it was by
a hand-bucket, with a rope of twisted herbs.
Owing to the general use of this rope, and its
(1) Presented to the author by Bridges Barvey, Esq. If. A. of Jim
College. It was brought from Velos.
(3) The lever is now used for some of the wells in Athens; but
seems probable that the use of this mechanical power among i
Modem Greeks was introduced by the Albanians.
(3) See a Sketch of the old Teutonic Well as a Vignette to Chap.
Vol. IX. of these Travels, 8vo. Edition.
ATHENS. 339
tonseqoent friction against the sides of the
well, the interior of those massive marble cylin-
ders has been actually grooved all round, to
the depth of two or three inches : in some
instances, transverse channels appear crossing
the others obliquely, and to an equal depth.
An effect so remarkable, caused in solid marble
by its attrition with one of the softest substances,
affords convincing proof that a great length of
time must have elapsed before any one of those
farrows in the stone could have been so produced;
and that many ages would be requisite to form
sach channels in any number.
Having selected a dry well for our experi-
ment, whose mouth was covered by a cylinder
remarkably distinguished by this appearance,
we removed a quantity of stones and rubbish,
and found at the bottom a substratum of moist
marie. In this humid substance (the original
deposit of the water when the well was used),
the number of terra-cotta vessels, lamps,
pitchers, bottles, some entire, others broken,
was very great. We removed thirty-seven in
an entire state, of various sizes and forms. They
were chiefly of a coarse manufacture, without
glazing or ornament of any kind ; but the
workmen brought up also the feet, handles,
z 2
340 ATHENS.
chap, necks, and other parts of earthen vases of a
vi. .
very superior quality and workmanship: some
of these were fluted, and of a jet black colour ;
others of a bright red, similar to those innume-
rable fragments of terra-cotta found upon the
site of all Grecian cities ; especially in the outer
Cer amicus1, and in the sepulchres of Athens since
opened, as well as those of Italy and of Sicily.
While this work was going on, a lamp was
brought to us, without any information of th
place where it was found, but of such singula
beauty and interest, that the author would
guilty of an unpardonable omission if he neg —
lected to insert its particular description: ha»
has an additional motive for so doing ; namelj^
(1) By collecting upon the spot these fragments of Greci/tn
and comparing afterwards the fragments found upon the site of <
antient city with those discovered on the site of another, a
marked difference of manufacture may be observed* The Ccrbsthms^sm
seemed to hare used a particularly heavy and coarse black ware ; thw*»f
of Athens was the lightest and most elegant ; that of Sicyon the rudesa?*
and most antient. The most perfect pottery of Modern Greece is tl»*
earthenware of Larissa, where it may be found almost equal in besMtf
to the antient terra-eotta. Mr. Cripps discovered at Athens, upon the
outside of the city, fragments of the finest antient rases, lying asms
quarry, and sufficient in quantity to prove that a very large establish-
ment for the manufacture of earthenware once existed upon the spot
As it remains there at this hour, it may assist in deciding the ditpitr1
position of the outer Cbramiccs. '* Fecit et Calcoethenes cruda open
Athenis ; qui locus ab official ejus, Ceramicos appellator** PUsu Hist
Nat. lib. xxxv. c. 12. X. Bat. 1695.
ATHENS. 341
the hope of being one day able to recover this chap.
curious relic ; for its extraordinary perfec-
tion so much excited the cupidity of one of the
Roman formatori, that having volunteered the
troublesome and difficult task of packing up our
antiquities when we were about to leave Athens,
he availed himself of the opportunity to steal
this lamp; and the theft was not discovered
until the case, said by him to contain it, was
opened upon its arrival in England. Possibly,
therefore, as it may exist in some Cabinet of
JSurope, the following account of it may hereafter
lead to the knowledge of its situation ; if it do
not prove the cause of its destruction. It was
of a black colour, like our dark Wedgwood ware :
when first offered to us, it seemed to be cor-
roded and porous ; but after it had imbibed a
little oil, it appeared as perfect as if it had
recently issued from the hands of the Athenian
potter. In shape and size it resembled the
generality of antient terra-cotta lamps ; being
of a circular form, and about three inches in
diameter, with a protruding lip for the wick in
one part of the circumference. Upon the top of
it, a lion was represented in an erect pos-
ture ; the figure of the animal expressing all the
energy and greatness of style peculiar to the
342
ATHENS.
<*•**. best age of sculpture. Within the circle at tbe
bottom of the lamp was this inscription :
Carious
Inscription I fl K P A T
upon a
Terra- H Z E X E
Lamp. ZI10N
SOCRATES ' ACCEPT * THIS * ANIMAL
It teems therefore to have been originally
of those offerings called vtpripwv ayaX^ara by
Euripides1, the imagines, or, as usually trans-
lated, grata munera, which the friends of a
deceased person were wont to carry after the^
corpse during the funeral procession : and per-
haps it was deposited in the grave of the most^^t
celebrated philosopher of the antient world.
During the first days of November we con
tinued our researches with the utmost diligent
both in making these excavations, and in end*
vouring to find Inscriptions which had escapev d
the notice of former travellers. Upon the thiiw
of this month we set out upon an excursion
(1 ) Koc prjv ipd *&» raripa ytp*¥p «■©$*
XtiIxovt9 6xaio$c r* iv \tpo\v Mfiaprt ef
Kovftov fipevract vtprtpvv JtyAXpara.
Jftmp*i.tajlfc.Y.619.p.88»- Can**. ION.
ATHENS. 343
Hymbttus*, intending to visit the summit of chap.
the mountain. Haying taken with us horses, a
guide, and provisions for the day, we leftdolTto
Athens for this purpose, at sun-rise ; Signor ***'*"*
ljusieri being of our party. In our way, we
crossed the Ilissus ; and again passing the Sta-
imtHy we visited a small Greek chapel toward
the east, upon the top of a hill. This building
Wis alluded to in the preceding Chapter, as Temple of
Diana*
(narking the site pf the Temple of Diana Agrcoa,
>r Agrotera. W$ saw here the remains of
solumns of three distinct orders in architecture ;
the most antient J)oric, the Ionic, and the Oorvsr
thian. It is rather the situation of the building,
with reference to the line of observation pur-
sued by Pausanias*, than any specific part of
its remaining antiquities, which may be relied
upon, as denoting where this temple of Diana,
(S) " Many placet in Greece preserve their antient names : others
ittaln them with a slight alteration; as, JKimbo for Olympus;
Zyakoura for Parnassus, from Lycorea the ancient city npon that
mountain : others bear appellations Imposed on them by the Venetians
and Genoese : but no instance has occurred of a more singular meta-
morphosis in Grecian nomenclature than in the name of Hymbttub.
The Venetians, who called it Monte Hymetto, corrupted it into Monte
Motto: Matto signifies mad ; and the Modern Greeks have chosen to
translate the two words literally, by Trelo* Vouni, * the Mad Moun-
tain.' " WatpoUt MS. Journal.
(3) Vid. Pausan. in Atticis, c. 19. p. 44. Edit. Kuhnii. Lips. 1606.
344 ATHENS.
chap, stood. After his visit to the Gardens, and the
VI
v^ Temple of Venus (in hortis), having mentioned
the Shrine of Hercules (which was called
Cynos&rges), and the Lyceum, and being still
eastward of the Stadium, he crosses the
Ilissus, in that part of it where it received the
Eridanus ; here, entering Agra, or Agile1,
immediately upon his arrival at the [southern
side of the river9, he notices the Temple 01
Diana Agrotera. No part of his description
seems therefore involved in less uncertainty
than his position of this edifice; which exactlj
corresponds with that of the Greek chapel non
mentioned.
Monastery. Hence we proceeded to the Monastery o
Saltan?, upon Mount Hymettus. Chandle
believed this to have been antiently renowne*
as the scene where the jealous Procris met he
(1) ' Ay pa tKai" Ay pai, x*piov, iviK&c icai irXnOvvrur&c. Stephana
Vid.Meurs. lib. de Populis Attica, ap. Gronov. Thesaur. Grcec. Anti
vol. IV. p. 683. L. Bat. 1699.
(2) Aiafiaei 6k rbv ECKtffffbv, %wp£ov "Aypai taXovfitvov, cat va*
' Ay porkpag loriv 'Aprtfiitoc.. Pausan. c. 19. p. 45. Lips. 1696.
(3) So we believed the name to be pronounced ; perhaps corrupt*
from some derivative of Sa\tvta9Jluetuo : the water here continual
gushing forth. WheUr calls this place H agios Kyriani; Chandh
Cyriani : and Stuart has written it, in his Map of Attica, Monatte
of Syriani.
ATHENS. 345
fate from the unerring dart of Diana, which she chap.
had given to her husband Cephalus*. A temple
of Venus stood upon the spot ; and near to it
there was a fountain whose water was believed
to conduce to pregnancy, and to facilitate par-
turition. The modern superstition with regard
to the fountain, which is close to the Convent,
confirmed his opinion in a manner that he does
oot appear to have noticed : the priest told him,
that " a dove is seen to fly down from heaven,
to drink of the water annually, at the Feast of
Pentecost." It is remarkable that an ignorant
superstition should thus have selected the bird
which was peculiarly sacred to Venus: and
Chandler also adds, that the Greek women still
repair to the Monastery at particular seasons.
Being earnest in the pursuit of antiquities, we
neglected to attend, as we ought to have done,
to the traditions of the inhabitants; but we
found enough to convince us that this was the
site of some antient temple. We observed in
the church of the Monastery several Ionic
columns ; also the shaft of a pillar of granite ;
and at the fountain we saw the head of a bull, or
of a corf, sculptured upon a white marble Soros,
(4) See Cha*dUr>t Trm?. in Greece, p. 145. Oxf. 1770.
(5) The Vbnus of Egypt and of Phcenice hmd this form. The
image
346 ATHENS.
chap, now used as a cistern. This Monastery is
visible from A then*. The water from the foun-
tain fells into the Ilissus. We found here a
slab of white marble, with an inscription : the
stone had been brought from some ruins near
another convent, higher up than the Monastery,
and upon an opposite eminence towards A than.
Our guide wished much to conduct us thither ;
but we postponed going, in order to copy this
inscription, until it was too late ; as we wished
to reach the summit of Hymettu* before noon,
that we might there estimate the temperature
pf the atmosphere, and also avail ourselves of
the clearness and serenity of the weather for*
other observations. From the distant view wo
had of those ruins, added to the description
given of them, there seemed to be a ground
plot and foundation as for a temple. This
marble, which had been brought from the spot,
will of course render the place worthy the
examination of future travellers. The subject
of the Inscription relates to the genealogy of
some family. We have since found that it
image of Isifl, according to Herodotus (lib. ii.)» bad *"« {oTm °* •
woman with the horns of a cow upon her head, as the Oreekmt
represented IO. Wheler seems to allude to this piece of sculpture,
(See Journey into Greece, Book VII. p. 411. Lond. 1683.) but be cabs
it "a sheep's head."
ATHENS. 347
has been already published by Chandler, who chap.
takes no notice of the place where it was origin v^v-w*
nally discovered ; but as it may be consulted in
the works of that author, we shall not offer it a
second time to the public1.
From this Monastery it is practicable to ride
the whole way to the summit of Hymettus ; but
we preferred walking, that we might the more
leisurely examine every object, and collect the
few plants in flower at this late season of the visit to the
yew*. We saw partridges in great abundance ; th^Moon-
«nd bees, in all parts of the mountain : not only tain'
*t the Monastery, where a regular apiary is
kept, but also in such number dispersed and
feeding about the higher parts of Hymettus, that
the primeval breed3 may still exist among the
numerous wild stocks which inhabit the hollow
trees and clefts of the rocks. Their favourite
food, the wild Thyme (ipvvXkov, Thymus Ser-
pylhtm Linn.), in almost every variety, grows
(1) Vld. Inecript. Antiq. p .64. AAAOTKO, *. r. X.
(*) Our specimens were all lost in the wreck of the Prineesta mer-
chantman ; bat WheUr has given a catalogue of the plants collected
by him in the month of February, upon this mountain. &f Journey
htio Greece, BookW. p. A\A. Land. 1682.
(3) The AntienU believed that bees were first bred here, and that
all other beta were bat colonies from this mountain.
348 ATHENS.
chap, abundantly upon the mountain, together with
Salvia pomifera, and Salvia verbascum ; and to
this circumstance may be owing the very
heating quality of the honey of Hymettus. The
powerful aromatic exhalation of these plants
fills the air with a spicy odour : indeed, this
scented atmosphere is a very striking charac-
teristic of Greece and of its islands, but it
peculiarly distinguishes the mountains of Attica*
The 9wjuoc of Theophrastus and JDioscarides wi
used as incense in the temples. We
nothing of the silver mines1 mentioned bv Strobes
(I) "The Athenians, we are informed, obtained copper
Colone, dote to Athens ; where Sophocles has laid the scene of o>
of his most beautiful plays. Silver was procured from
and was the metal in general circulation: there were ten difle
coins of silver, from the tetradrachm to the quarter of an obol
Lead was purchased from theTyrians: Tbv poXvfidov rbv U tUv
are the words of Aristides. II. De Cur. Rei Fam. 396. Gold was *>
scarce, at one time, in Greece, that the Lacedaemonians could mTatf
none to gild the face of the statue of Apollo at A my else, (od* «vpi#-
kovtiq kv tj 'RXkdd gpvtriov, Athene, 832.) and therefore tent to Lydk
for it. There was an abundance when the Temple of Apollo was plundered
by the Phocian tyrants, and when Alexander had pillaged, says Atbe-
nseus, the treasures of Asia : lib. vl. 231. It is worth remarking,
that we can tell pretty nearly the century in which the mines of allrer
of Laurium (which was about thirty miles S. E. from Athens) begi*
to fail ; at least according to the opinion of the Antients. Thacydidsi
mentions them in two places of bis History (Book ii. and vi.); in the
sixth book he talks of the revenue derived from the silver mines, It
is the object of a treatise of Xenophon to recommend the Athenian
to work the silver mines of Laurium (w<pi wopvv). But what do Stftbo
and Pausanias say ? The latter asserts that they had failed. Strafe*
words
»
ATH ENS.
349
where the hest honey of Hymettus was found. °**Tm
The ascent was truly delightful ; the different
prospects varying in extent and magnificence,
as we pursued a devious track among the
rocks, in our way upward to the top of the
mountain. We reached the summit about twelve
o'clock : there was no wind, and the sky was
without a cloud. We had some difficulty to
find a shaded situation for the thermometer:
however, the difference amounted only to three
degrees of Fahrenheit, whether the scale re-
mained in the shade, or exposed to the sun's
rays. The mercury stood at 48° in the former
situation, and it rose only to 51° in the latter;
affording sufficient proof of the mild climate of
Attica, in this warm temperature upon the
summit of its loftiest mountain, in the beginning
of the month of November*. Even upon this
words are dedti? e as to this point : (Book be.) ' The silver mioes in
Attica, formerly celebrated, are now deficient. The men who work
there, submitting again to the operation of fire the former refuse and
scoria {ptcmoiav), find silver still in it : the Antients having used their
faimccs without any skill/ The ground about Lanrium is covered
frequently, for many yards, with great quantities of scoria, lying in the
road.'* WalpoWs MS. Journal.
(9) It may, perhaps, be asked why the author did not carry a
hmrometer, rather than a thermometer, to the summit of Hymettu* : —
•imply, because such instruments are not found in any part of the
indeed any where else, in perfection, except in
360 ATHENS,
<*>**• elevated spot, and upon the naked surface of the
limestone, without an herb or a drop of water
to allure it, one of the wild bees came and
settled upon the scale of the thermometer. We
did not perceive any remarkable difference
between the appearance of this insect upon
Hymettus, and the common bee of our own
country, except that we thought the former
rather smaller, and of a more golden colour.
Jbusieri had already placed himself upon a
sloping part of the summit facing the south,
and was beginning to delineate the wonderful
sight he beheld. From the spot where lie
was seated, a tremendous chasm of HymetUm
awfully grand, extended, in one wide amazing
sweep, from the summit to the base of the
mountain. Into this precipitous ravine there
projected from its side the most enormous
crags and perpendicular rocks. These he had
chosen to be the fore-ground of his sublime
picture ; the eye looking down into an abyss,
which at the bottom opened into a glorious
valley, reaching across the whole promontory
of Attica, from sea to sea. Beyond appeared
the broad and purple surface of the JEgean,
-studded with innumerable islands, and shining
with streaks of the most effulgent light. While
he was engaged in his delightful employment,
ATHENS. 351
we undertook a task of less difficulty ; namely, C&AP-
that of making a panoramic survey of all the ^v^
principal objects ; noting their situation accord-
ing to the points of a mariner's compass, which
we placed upon the upmost pinnacle of the
mountain ; beginning with the north point, and
proceeding regularly from left to right, so as
to complete an entire circumference, whose centre
u the summit of Hymettus.
Panoramic Survey of Attica, the jEgean
Sea, frc.from the Summit of Hymettus.
North.
Parnes Mountain, and the valley east of Panoramic
Athens, leading to Pentelicus : the highest point oMif/
of Parnes bearing due north. oun Iy*
North North-East.
A very high mountain covered with snow, of
a conical form, but at so great a distance that
we could not decide with certainty as to its
name: possibly it may have been the mountain
mentioned by Wheler, belonging to Eubcea, and
now called Delphi1; but the bearing, according
(1) See Journey into Grcec*, p. 410. Lend. 1082.
352 ATHENS.
chap, to his observation, was north and by east.
vi. / 9
Nearer to the eye, in this direction (n. n. e.), is
one of the mountains of Eubcea, extending
from north and by east to north-east ; that is to
say, the mountainous chain of Negropont.
North-East.
Pentelicus Mountain, intercepting, with its
summit, the visible range of the Negropont
Mountains.
North-East and by East.
The range of Eubcean Mountains (olim, Ocha
Mons), extending to east and by south ; the Sea
of Marathon intervening in front.
East.
The Southern Promontory of Eubcea, called
Caristo.
East and by South.
The Strait between Andros and Eubcea.
East South-East.
The summit of Andros.
South-East and by East.
Tenos : nearer to the eye, and nearly in th^
same direction, the north point of Macronisi, oC
353
ATHENS.
Ule op Helena, extending thence towards Cvf.P'
wuth-cast and by south.
South-East.
Gyaros, now called Jura ; and half a point
more towards the south, Mycone, and the
Deli an Isles.
South-East and by South.
Eastern point of Zia, Ceos ; this island con-
cealing all the Cyclades excepting Cythnus,
dow Thermia.
South South-East.
Island of Ceos, now Zia.
South and by East
Cythnus, now Thermia, appearing beyond
-he southern point of Ceos ; and nearer to the
!ye, a mountain extending across the pro-
montory of Attica from sea to sea, being
Pposed by Hymettus, (perhaps that called
u limbo). Still nearer, beneath the view, the
Heat valley which lies between the two
fountains, composing the three grand features
^ all Attica, south-east of Athens.
South.
Cape Sunium, bearing into the sea, in a
tie from north-east to south-west.
VOL. VI. A A
354 ATHENS.
South and by West.
A lofty cape, with lower islands so much
resembling the Cape and Precipice of Samos,
with the Samian Boccaze, and the Isles of Foumi
and Nicaria, that nothi; g but its situation t»y
the compass could convince us to the contrary.
The mde sketch made upon the spot will gi
/
an idea of its appearance. We know not the
name either of the cape or of the islands. The
distance in which they are here viewed was the
utmost stretch of the radius of our circle : they
were seen only by the outline of their forms,
thus interrupting the horizontal line of the sea-
The only land in this direction, as laid down i*»
D'Anville's Chart of the Archipelago, that could
have been visible to us, is the Island ofFalconbra *
Milo being to the east of the south. XeaTe^
to the eye, in the same direction, we saw th^^
Island of St. George JPArborL
Between South and by West, and South South
West.
An island at an immense distance, perhaps*3*
Caravi: it had some resemblance to Paimos j
ATHENS. 355
and our stupid guide insisted upon it that it was chap.
actually Patmos; calling it also 'Aymvfcn, "Holy
hhrnd."
South South- West.
The open sea. Close to the eye, upon the
oast of Attica, a large mountain, forming, on
bis side of Hymettus, a profound and magni-
cent valley with precipitous sides.
South-West and by South.
An island somewhat resembling Amorgos in
ts shape, but quite in a different situation,
ppearing beyond the south-eastern point of
^fydra; perhaps Belo Poulo.
South-West.
Aristera, now called Hydra ; extending in a
ine from the south-east towards the north-west.
South-West and by West.
The Scyllean Promontory, and entrance
o the Gulph of Aroos ; a small island lying in
he mouth of it : the whole territory of Argolis
>eing visible in this direction ; its mountainous
idges exhibiting vast irregular undulation**,
ike the boiling of a troubled sea.
A A 2
356 ATHENS.
CF|*P- West South-West .
Sinus Saronicus:' the Island of jEgina,
backed by the Mountains of Epidaurcjs.
West and by South.
More distant summits of Peloponnesus, even
to Arcadia, seen between two small islands north-
west of JEgina.
West.
Smaller Isles, and Rocks, towards the north
of the Saronic Gulph ; and distant Mountains of
Peloponnesus.
West and by North.
Phalerum ; and beyond it, the south-west
part of the Island of Salamis.
West North- West.
Pirjeeus ; the Island of Salamis ; tli£
Acropolis of Corinth, backed by very lofty
mountains, separating Arcadia and Achaia, io
the interior of Peloponnesus.
North-West and by West.
Megara ; Mons Geranea ; and other high
mountains more distant.
ATHENS. 357
North-West. chap.
VI.
Eleusis, backed by a mountainous territory :
the extremity of the Saronic Gulph : and in
this direction the point of JEgaleos is visible
where Xerxes is supposed to have sat during the
battle of Salamis.
Then succeeds the Plain of Athens, covered,
°i* the northern side, by extensive olive-plan-
tations : afterwards, still nearer to the eye,
appear the Acropolis and City of Athens, and
aH the Athenian Plain at the foot of Hymettus.
Athens, as viewed from this situation, makes a
n^ost beautiful appearance: a description of it
111 ^y be written as from a model. It lies in a
v^lley, having Phalerum and the Sea to the
^e*/ ; Mount Pentelicus to the east ; the
Mountainous range of Parnes, or Nozia, to the
*°r*A ; and Hymettus upon the south. In the
Plain of this fine valley, thus surrounded by
vagt natural ramparts, there are other very
r^markable geological features. A series of six
|Osular mountain rocks, of breccia, surmounted
by limestone, rise in the plain in very regular
succession, from the east towards the west;
(that is to say, from Pentelicus towards the sea ;)
gradually diminishing in that direction. The
Sill of Musceus is the last of the succession ; that
358 ATHENS.
chap, is to say, it is the sixth in the .series towi
Phdlerum. The A cropolis of A thens stands u
the fifth, or the last but one, towards the sea.
fourth is the lofty rock called Mount Anchesn
and this rock, by some convulsion of Nature,
been separated into two parts : farther towj
the east are three other, carrying on the sc
towards Pentelicus. On the northern side of
city is a range of olive plantations: bet*
these and Hymettus, in the plain occurs
chain of rocks, extending east and west :
south side of the plain, nearer to the base
HymettuSj wears a barren aspect1, broken
(1) "On the road from Marathon to the Monastery on Pentt
and <m that from Keratia back to Athens, we passed some spots •
in beauty of natural scenery might vie with any thing we had si
Greece. The Athenians were very partial to a country life (T
dides9 lib. ii.) ; and many of these places, like that beautiful rills
Cephissias, seven miles to the north of Athens, which Aulu* G
has described, were the favourite abodes of the Athenians, whe
they could retire from the noise of the popular assemblies at A
It does not however appear that they attended much to the agrici
of the country: " Every man/' says Xenophon, (de (Econ.) "ma
farmer; no art or skill is requisite :" a very good proof, observes f
that agriculture was not much understood. When we considei
and the natural sterility of Attica, which the Antients so often
tion, (see the Schol. on Olym. 7. of Pindar,) we cannot but wood
the great population which the country was able to maintain. I
says barley was indigenous in the north of Attica: and the olive
which abounds in this couutry, might have contributed to the su
of great numbers ; it being used antiently, as it is now, for a coc
a
ATHENS. 359
nountainets, hills, and rocks. Parnes, Pentelicus, chap.
and Hymettus, are all barren, and, from this
elevation, seem to be destitute of trees.
North-West and by North.
Cxceeding high mountains of Bceotia and
Pqocis ; one, nearer to the eye, shaped like a
**cWfe, forming a range with Parnes from e. n. e.
to -w. s. w. In this direction, and immediately
under the view, lies the double-rock of Anches-
m,UrS9 in the Athenian plain, to the east of Athens.
*^ith regard to the distant mountains, they are
Probably Helicon, now Zagara, and Cith^iron,
ttOw Elatcea. Wheler lays the first n.w. by w. ;
a**d the second, he says, begins N.w. by w.
a**d ends n.w. by n.
North North-West .
Another distant and very lofty mountain,
***~ticle of daily food. But immense supplies of corn were constantly
'^ported from Sicily, Egypt, and the Euxinc. Attica was not able to
**liintaio her inhabitants: these we may calculate, in the year 312
A..C. at 524,000; supposing the text in Atbenseus to be not corrupted.
**aere were 21,000 citizens, and 10,000 strangers: allowing to each of
Dicse a wife and two children, we have the number of free persons,
^ 24,000; and adding the slaves, (according to Athcnccus,) 400,000, we
Und 524,000 to be the aggregate. Attica contained 855 square
Wagues." WalpoU's MS. Journal.
360 ATHENS.
chap, appearing with its blue peak towering behind the
range of Mount Parnes, and possibly Parnassus.
*
North and by West.
Part of the range of Parnes ; and, nearer to
the eye, the fine valley or plain of Athens.
North.
Has been already noticed. The Circle is there-
fore here completed.
The desire of leaving a memorial of the visit
one has paid to any memorable spot, seems to
be so natural, that however the practice may
have been derided, the most eminent travellers,
in common with the most insignificant, have left
their names in some conspicuous situation:
those of Wheler and Spon have been observed
upon the walls of the Temple of Theseus ; that
of Shaw remains in the Franciscan Convent at
Jerusalem ; that of Pococke at Thebes, in Upper
Egypt ; and that of Hasselquist upon the prin-
cipal pyramid of Memphis. Upon the summit
of Hymettus no such inscriptions appeared ; but
the naked surface of the limestone seemed to
be so well calculated for their preservation, that
we felt a reluctance to return without carving
our names upon the top of the mountain. As
\
ATHENS. 361
soon as we had done this, we descended once chap.
VI.
more towards the Convent, where we arrived
late in the evening, and immediately proceeded
to Athens.
The following day was attended by a singular
adventure. We had agreed to spend the greater
part of this day with Lusieri, among the anti-
quities of the Citadel; and for the purpose, Mr.
Oripps accompanied him to the Acropolis soon
after breakfast. The author followed towards
n<H>n. About half-way up the steep which siuguiar
I it Adventure
leads to the Propytea, he heard a noise oftnatbefei
I . the Author.
^Ughter and of many clamorous voices, pro-
c Ceding from a building situate in an area upon
***e left hand, which had the appearance of
k^ing a public bath. As it is always customary
**>r strangers to mingle with the Moslems in such
Places without molestation, and as it had been
*lie author's practice to bathe frequently for the
preservation of his health, he advanced without
further consideration towards the entrance,
^hich he found covered with a carpet hanging
before it. No human creature was to be seen
without the bath, whether Turk or Greek. This
Was rather remarkable; but it seemed to be
explained in the numbers who were heard
talking within. As the author drew nearer to
362 ATHENS.
chap, the door of the building, the voices were heard
vi •
rather in a shriller tone than usual ; but nc
suspicion entering into his mind, as to the sort
of bathers which he would find assembled, he
put aside the carpet, and, stepping beneath the
main dome of the bagnio, suddenly found him-
self in the midst of the principal women ol
Athens, many of whom were unveiled in every
sense of the term, and all of them in utter
amazement at the madness of the intrusion.
The first impulse of astonishment entirely super-
seded all thought of the danger of his situation :
he remained fixed and mute as a statue. A
general shriek soon brought him to his recol-
lection. Several black female slaves ran towards
him, interposing before his face napkins, and
driving him backwards towards the entrance
He endeavoured, by signs and broken sen-
tences, to convince them that he came there t<
bathe in the ordinary way ; but this awkwarc
attempt at an apology converted their fears ink
laughter, accompanied by sounds of Hist! Hist
and the most eager entreaties to him to absconc
quickly, and without observation. As he drem
back, he distinctly heard some one say, ir
Italian, that if he were seen he would be shot
By this time the negro women were arounc
him, covering his eyes with their hands anc
ATHENS. 363
towels, and rather impeding his retreat, by chap.
pushing him blindfolded towards the door ; ^*y^,
whence he fled with all possible expedition. As
the sight of women in Turkey is rare, and
always obtained with difficulty, the Reader may
perhaps wish to know what sort of beings the
author saw, during the short interval that his
eyes were open within the bagnio; although
he can only describe the scene from a confused
recollection. Upon the left hand, as he entered, ne§crip-
there was an elderly female, who appeared to be ceremo-6
of considerable rank, from the number of slaves w™L'**
sumptuously clad and in waiting upon her. Baihm
She was reclined, as it is usual in all Turkish
haths, upon a sort of divdn, or raised floor,
surrounding the circular hall of the bath,
Poking and drinking coffee. A rich embroi-
dered covering of green silk had been spread
over her. Her slaves stood by her side, upon
the marble pavement of the bath. Many other
women of different ages were seated, or stand-
lng, or lying, upon the same divan. Some
appeared coming in high wooden clogs from the
sudatories or interior chambers of the bath,
Awards the divan ; their long hair hanging
dishevelled and straight, almost to the ground :
the temperature of those cells had flushed their
»^ces with a warm glow, seldom seen upon the
364 * ATHENS.
chap, pale and faded cheeks of the Grecian an
Turkish women. Some of them were very hanc
some. Within the centre of the area, imm<
diately beneath the dome, the black women an
other attendants of the bath were busy heatin
towels, and preparing pipes and coffee for tl
bathers ; according to the custom observed whe
men frequent these places.
The cause of this mistake remains now to b
explained. This bath was not peculiarly bc
apart for the use of females : it was frequente
also by the male inhabitants; but at state
hours the women have the privilege of appw
priating it to their use ; and this happened t
be their time of bathing ; consequently the me
were absent. Upon such occasions, the Gra
and Turkish women bathe together : owing
this circumstance, the news of the adventu:
was very speedily circulated over all Athen
As we did not return until the evening, tl
family with whom we resided, hearing of tl
affair, began to be uneasy, lest it had bet
brought to a serious termination ; well knowii
that if any of the Arnaouts, or of the Turki
guard belonging to the Citadel, had seen a nu
coming from the bath while the women we
there, they, without hesitation or ccremon
ATHENS. 365
would have put him instantly to death : and the chap.
only reason we could assign for its never being wv^/
afterwards noticed, was, that however gene-
rally it became the subject of conversation
among the Turkish females of the city, their
Moslem masters were kept in ignorance of the
transaction.
We remained in the Citadel during the rest Farther
of the day; not only to avoid any probable tknJin the
consequences of this affair, but also that we Acropotti'
might once more leisurely survey the inter-
esting objects it contains ; and, lastly, have an
opportunity of seeing, from the Parthenon, the
*un setting behind the Acropolis of Corinth ; one
of the finest sights in all Greece.
It was mentioned in the preceding Chapter,
that the frieze of the Erecthhim, and of its
P°rticoes, consists of a bluish-grey limestone,
"^embling slate ; and that the tympanum of
the pediment is likewise of the same stone ; but
*ne rest of the temple is of marble. Perhaps
*bis kind of limestone was introduced into
those parts of the building intended to contain
'tfecriptions ; because the letters, when cut,
heing of a different colour from the polished
366 ATHENS.
chap, stone, would thereby be rendered the more
conspicuous. A circumstance which renders
this probable, is, that inscriptions are often
found upon this kind of limestone, among the
remains of buildings constructed of marble.
The author found the following Inscription this
day, in the Acropolis, upon a blue slate-like
limestone :
nOATAAOSnOAYAAlAOYlIAIANIEYH
EIKONATHNAANE9HKEnOAY£TPAT02AYTOYAAEA*ON
MNHMOSYNHN0NHTOr2QMATO2A0ANATON
The name written in the first line, Polyllus,
seems to have been inscribed beneath the statue
(image) of a person who belonged to one of tfc*e
SrjfjLoi of Attica. Ylaiavavg Svpog, that is to sajT»
Pceaniensis populus ; for in the verses whicfa
follow, we read, that " Polystratus raised thi*
representation — his own brother; an immortcx*
memorial of a mortal body. "
If the statue where of white marble, the Mil^
limestone placed below it may have bee^3
selected as better adapted for the purpose a>*
adding the inscription.
We also copied an Inscription of the JRoma^^
times, relating to " Pammenes the son of Zeno o>s
ATHENS. 367
Marathon," who is mentioned as Priest ; but it chap.
VI
is in a very imperfect state :
M020EAIEQMIIIKAI2 TQIKAISAPISTP A YNT02 . . niT
TAXnAMMENOYSTOYEHNQNOSMAPAQQNIOYIEPEQZeEAS
MHrKA12EBA2TOY2QTHPOSEnAKPOnOAEIEniIEPEIA2A0H
nOAIAA02MEri2TH2TH2A2KAHniAAOYAAAlEU5:eYrAT . .
Afterwards, Lusieri shewed to us an inscribed
warble which he had been ordered to send to
| England, with the spoils of the Parthenon ; but
as the author does not know whether it met
with the fate of a large portion of the sculpture
"* Cerigo Bay, or ultimately reached its destina-
tion, he will subjoin the copy he made of this
Inscription upon the spot, because it is one of
'he most antient that have been found in Greece1.
It ig written in what are called Cadmcean letters ;
recording the names of certain Athenians and
tlicir tribes. The double vowels were not in
ff^neral use before the Archonship of Euclid in
***€ ninety-fourth Olympiad. Instead of £ we
**5*ve here X* as in TIMOX^ENO*. The
*Oxms also of the Gamma, Lambda, and Sigma,
^**e most antient ; they are thus written, N , £,
^*id £. The H is used for the aspirate, as in
MlPOGONTIAO^. In other respects, as it
(1) This marble it now in England.
368 ATHENS.
chap, is merely a list of names, this is all which maj
be here requisite for its illustration.
EPI..PEYS .... *TP .
PAY^IAAEZ TF . . AN . .
<MZ.inriAE£ EN . . BA . . .
KEKPOTIAO? 1NE*
Z.YKOMEAE?
GEOAOPO^ ON
AYKI.O. EN
ANA.I.IO£ XAE
MENEKAE* AEMO^TPAT
♦ PYNIKO^# KEN.OP1AE1
HirOGONTIAO^ AYKEN ....
©EOTIMO* T1M0^..1..NB
£KYPOKAE( ^OINIYTI . .
XIAPEA3 AEOKA....
EYANN EAO£
NIKO*TPATO€ A1A1 . . . .
GPA^YMAXOS AAAYKN . . .
♦ ANIA3 OpA£ON
KAAAlKAE* ANTltO
EXEOTIAAE* ANTlO*
AlANTlAO* E1.1TEA1A
KPAT1NO* EY0Y.:AXO
ANTIOXIAO? N1K1PPO
AP1ZTOMEAE*
AMEINOKTE3 E
AI€XINE£ N . E . . .
ATHENS. 30!)
r ANTAK£E€ A . € . . . chap.
XAPIAEMO* SOX^OIAZ. VI*
Tl MOX(ENO€
ANTI+ANE* AYP1K
EMPOTAIAAIA*
PANTAKAE* AEX MO*
ANNOAEMO* MNEA0PA*
APXIA* nEPl cHIAE*
ENAM+IPOAEI HEl *lAO£
♦ l&O+PON ONE<lMO£
EriGPAIKE* HIE. . E
EYKPATE* ANA...
EMPYAOI* X£EN*1
Eh IA£ A0EN API*
EN(EPMY£IAt EY^PAIO*
POZ.YMNE*TO* XA1PY* N
E€(IAAOI nO€E...TO(
PAY^IA*!^ MENO. . .
A.*. *TPATO
The other Inscriptions which we collected
"we, and in the lower city, have been already
published. Some of them are in Grunter, others
a,ay be seen either in Spon or in Chandler1 ; with
''Jibe celebrated if armor Atkenieiut bu been, however, inaeca*
*'y edited by the U«t of tbeee author*. It was lately found in a
• ••ltd state in the British Museum ; and liat since exercised the
^OL. VI. B B crudltlo
370 ATHENS.
chap, the exception of one which we afterwards found
^-v-w in a school-room, near the celebrated Temple of
the Winds* It was inscribed upon a marble
bas-relief, representing a female figure seated,
holding by the hand an old man who is standing
before her. As this brief inscription will be the
last we shall notice in Athens, it may be here
introduced, as a companion of those already
given in this Chapter. The Reader is referred
to Suidas and Harpocration for an illustration of
the word Alyikuvg. Mqilia was one of the
Attic &i/xot, and belonged to the tribe Antiochis
PAM<MAOZMEl S UAOYAPXirPH
AITIAIEYZ ME1 S 1AA0Y
Additional The sun was now setting, and we repaired to
Remarks
upon the the Parthenon. This building, in its entire state,
either as a Heathen temple, or as a Christian
sanctuary, was lighted only by means of lamps :
it had no windows ; but the darkness of the inte-
rior was calculated to aid the Pagan ceremonies
erudition and critical acumen of that accompliihed scholar, and learned
antiquary, Richard Payne Knight, Esq. As this marble was originally
removed from the Acropolis, it may be proper here to add, that it
preserves a record of a very interesting nature ; nothing less than the
name of the architect who built the Erecthium ; namely, Philoclm
of AcHARN.fi. This part of the Inscription was recovered by IF.
Wilkin* , Esq. who communicated the circumstance to the author.
ATHENS. 371
by one of the mo9t powerful agents of spersti- chap.
tion. The priests at Jerusalem have profited
by a similar mode of construction, for their pre-
tended miracle of the " holy fire" at the Tomb
of the Messiah ; and the remains of many antient
crypts and buildings in Egypt and in Greece
seem to prove that the earliest places of idolatrous
worship were all calculated to obstruct rather
than to admit the light. Even in its present
dilapidated state, the Parthenon still retains
•
something of its original gloomy character : it is
this which gives such a striking effect to the
appearance of the distant scenery, as it is beheld
through the portal by a spectator from within,
who approaches the western entrance. The
Acropolis of Corinth is so conspicuous from
within the nave, that the portal of the temple
seems to have been contrived for the express
purpose of guiding the eye of the spectator
precisely to that point of view. Perhaps there
was auother temple, with a corresponding scope
of observation, within the Corinthian Citadel.
Something of this nature may be observed in
the construction of old Roman Catholic churches,
where there are crevices calculated for the
purpose of guiding the eye, through the dark-
ness of the night, towards other sanctuaries
remotely situate; whether for any purpose of
b b 2
1
372 ATHENS.
chap, religious intercourse, by means of lights con-
VI.
veying signs to distant priests of the celebra-
tion of particular solemnities, or as beacons for
national signals, it is not pretended to deter-
Effectof mine. As evening drew on, the lengthening
behind the shadows began to blend all the lesser tints,
of^PWo- and to give breadth and a bolder outline to
ponnetu*. ^ vast objects in the glorious prospect seen
from this building, so as to exhibit them in
distinct masses : the surface of the Sinus
Saronicus, completely land-locked, resembled
that of a shining lake, surrounded by moun-
tains of majestic form, and illustrious in the
most affecting recollections. There is not one
of those mountains but may be described, in the
language of our classic bard, as " breathing
inspiration/9 Every portion of territory com-
prehended in the general survey has been
rendered memorable as the scene of some
conspicuous event in Grecian story; either as
the land of genius, or the field of heroism ; as
honoured by the poet's cradle, or by the
patriot's grave ; as exciting the remembrance
of all by which human-nature has been adorned
and dignified ; or as proclaiming the awful
mandate which ordains that not only talents
and virtue, but also states and empires, and
even the earth itself, shall pass away. The
ATHENS.
373
declining sun, casting its last rays upon the chap.
distant summits of Peloponnesus, and tinging > - ' >
with parting glory the mountains of Argolis
and Achaia, gave a grand but mournful
solemnity both to the natural and the moral
prospect. It soon disappeared. Emblematical
of the intellectual darkness now covering those
once enlightened regions, night came on,
shrouding every feature of the landscape with
her dusky veil.
Ruin upon the Site tftht TtupU o/A polio, upon Mount Cynortiom.
CHAP. VII.
PELOPONNESUS.
Departure from Athens for the Peloponnesus —
Extraordinary talents of a Calmiick Artist —
Further account of the Piraeus — the " Long
Walls" — Tomb of Themistocles — its situation
— remains of this monument — Objects visible in
passing the Gulph — JEg'tun — Temple of Jupiter
Paohellenius — Antiquities near lo the port — Au-
chestri Isle — Ignorance of the Pilot — Epiada —
Greek Medals — Arbutus Andrachne— Appear-
ance of the Country — Ligurio — Description of
a Conak, or Inn — Coroni— Cathedra of a
Greek Theatre — Hieron — Mountains — Temple
<j/*.5£sculapius — Stadium— ArcHitecluralTeTra-
cottas
V
DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS. 375
cottas — Temple of the Coryphaean Diana —
Temple of Apollo — Circular edifice — Theatre of
Polycletus — Epidaurian serpent — Aspect of the
Coilon — Perfect state of the structure — dim en-
sums and detail of the parts — Journey to Nau-
plia — Lessa — Dorian and Egyptian antiquities
— • Arachnaeus Mons — Cyclopea — Nauplia —
Mouse of the Consul — Turkish Gazette — Pub-
Be rejoicings — Athletae— Pyrrhica — Population
— Air — Commerce — Gipsies — Characteristic
features of Grecian cities — Tiryns — Celtic and
"Phoenician architecture — Origin of the Cyclo-
pean style — History of Tiryns— character of
its inhabitants.
On Thursday y November the fifth, we left Athens c"*,p"
at sun- rise, for the Pirceeus ; having resolved to
Departure
sail to Epidaurus ; and after visiting Epidauria from
Athens for
and Argolis, to return through the northern the p«/o-
districts of Peloponnesus, towards Megara
and Eleusis. The Governor of Athens had kindly
commissioned a relation of his family, a mo3t
amiable and worthy Turk, to accompany us in
the capacity of Tchohadar ; a word which we shall
not attempt to translate : it is enough to say that
such was his title, and that he travelled with us
as an officer who was to provide for us, upon all
occasions, and to be responsible for our safety
among the Albanians. Our caique had remained
at anchor since our arrival: the men belonging to
her had been daily employed in repairing the
376 DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS.
CvifP* 8a^s an<* r*£S*n£# L%merx offered to accompany
v-^v^' us as far as JEgxna ; having long wished for an
opportunity of seeing that island. Although rich
in valuable antiquities, it had been strangely
overlooked by almost every traveller, excepting
Chandler. As he expected ample employment
nary Ta- " for his pencil, he was desirous of being also
Caimuck attended by one of the most extraordinary
characters that has been added to the list of
celebrated artists since the days of Phidias.
This person was by birth a Caimuck, of the name
of Theodore : he had distinguished himself among
the painters at Rome, and had been brought to
Athens to join the band of artists employed by
our Ambassador, over which Lusieri presided.
With the most decided physiognomy of the
wildest of his native tribes, although as much
humanized in his appearance as it was possible
to make him by the aid of European dress and
habits, he still retained some of the original
characteristics of his countrymen ; and, among
others, a true Scythian relish for spirituous liquor.
By the judicious administration of brandy,
Lusieri could elicit from him, for the use of his
patron, specimens of his art, combining the
most astonishing genius with the strictest accu-
racy and the most exquisite taste. Theodore
presented a marvellous example of the force of
\
DEPARTURE FROM ATHENS. 377
natural genius unsubdued by the most powerful chap.
obstacles. Educated in slavery ; trained to the
business of his profession beneath the active
cudgels of his Russian masters ; having also
imbibed with his earliest impressions the servile
propensities and sensual appetites of the tyrants
he had been taught to revere ; this extraordinary
man arrived in Athens like another JSupkranor,
rivalling all that the Fine Arts had produced
under circumstances the most favourable to
their birth and maturity. The talents of Theodore,
as a painter, were not confined, as commonly is
the case among Russian artists, to mere works of
imitation : although he could copy every thing,
he could invent also : and his mind partook
largely of the superior powers of original genius.
With the most surprising ability, he restored
and inserted into his drawings all the sculpture
of which parts only remained in the mutilated
bas-reliefs and buildings of the Acropolis. Be-
sides this, he delineated, in a style of superior
excellence, the same sculptures according to the
precise state of decay in which they at present
exist1.
(1) See Memorandum on tbe Earl of Elgin's PureoiU in Greece,
p. 6. LomeUXSU.
378 THE PIRJEEUS.
chap. There are many Ruins about the three ports,
VII.
s*r>r%0 Munychia, Phalerum, and the Piraeus ; and we
may look to future excavations in their vicinity
as likely to bring to light many valuable anti-
Further quities. The remains of the long walls which
oMheDt j°ined the Piraeus to Athens, (making of it a
£e^!*No bu'y?1 similar to what Leith is with respect to
walls." Edinburgh1 ,) although very indistinct, yet may
be traced sufficiently to ascertain the space they
formerly included. These walls appear to have
had different names (distinguishing them from
the town walls of Piraeus) among the Greeks
and Romans. By the former they were termed
either Maicpa rd\^ the Long walls, or Maicpct
<ridX?i, literally answering to a nick-name be-
stowed upon one of our kings of England, who
was called Long-shanks. We find them alluded
to, under this appellation, by Diodorus Siculus; as
a term whereby they are distinguished from the
Pirceean walls2. The Romans adopted a different
appellation : by them the €i long-shanks" were
\
(1) Edinburgh exhibits a very correct model of a Grecian city : and
with its Acropolis, Town, and Harbour, it bears some resemblance t°
Athens and the Piraeus.
(2) ZvviOtvro rtfv tlorivnv, &trrt TA MAKPA IKE AH, mat TA
TEIXH TOY DEIPAIEQE, iripuXiiv. Mod. Sic. lib. xiii. ap. Meurt.
Pir. Vid. Gronov. Thesaur. Gr. torn. V. p. 1932. L. B«M699.
THE PIRAEUS.
379
called the " arms" or " long arms." They are c *f* ■
thus mentioned by Lwy% and by Propertius*.
A corrupt mode of writing the word Piraeus
seems to have been adopted by some authors,
who express UupauvQ by Piraus. Meursius,
upon the testimony of all the early Greek autho-
rities, is decisive for the former reading0. In
his admirable treatise upon this harbour and its
antiquities, he has concentrated with wonderful
erudition every thing that the Antients have left
concerning its history. In its original state it
had been an island, whence it received its
name6, like many later towns7, from its ferry6.
(9) " Inter angtistias semiruti muri, qui doobns braehiit Pirneam
Athenlf jongit." LUrtus, lib. xxxv. ap. Meurs. Pir.ut supra.
(4) " lode ubi Pirni capient me littora portm,
S candam ego These® bracMa longa Tin."
Propertiw, lib. Hi. Eleg. 90. ftp. Meurs. ut supra-
(5) Meurm Piraeus, passim. 8fc Suidas, Stephanus, Besychiut,
he. Ac.
(0) T6w ti Tltipalaf vtjeidZovra xportpov, *ai tripav rijc 'Arrfjc ccl-
ptvor, ofra*c faciv 6vopae$TJvai. Strabon. Geog. lib. i. p. 86. Oxon*
1807.
(7) Trajeetum ad Mosam, Maeatricht in Brabant ; Trajeetum ad
Mkenum, Utrecht ; Trajeetum ad Mamum, Franefort upon the aforoe;
Trajeetum ad Oderam, Franefort upon the Oder.
(S) "Hw wp6rtpov o Uupautig vrjeoc Wtv *al rovwoua ilXqfiw, vtrb
ripr liawtpav. " Primitua insula erat Pireeua : nnde et nomen accepit,
atrajeetu." Suidas.
380 THE PIRAEUS.
chap. Travellers have pretended to recognize the tomb
n-^v-^- of Themi&tocles. A square stone resting on a
n»iifto- s*mple base, an(* destitute of any ornament, was
de*. an that denoted the place of his interment. It
was near to the principal harbour1, of course
that of Piraeus*, containing three smaller ports,
as docks' : for the port of Phalerum, within the
road of that name, was very small4. Its situa-
tion seems to be so clearly designated by a
passage in Plutarch, at the end of his life of
(1) Koi wpbe rtf p*yi<jry Xtpivtrd+OQ 6i/u*rocXiowf.
Attic. JH0. Lips. 1096.
(8) " Piraeus, qui et ipse, magnitndine, ac commoditate, prims*."
Meurs. Pvr. ap. Gronov. Thesaur. Gr. torn. V. p. 1931. L. Bat. 1600.
(3) It contained three op/sot, or docks ; the first called KavBapoc., from
a hero of that name; the second 'AfpoAtVioy, from 'Afpodlrn, or Venus,
who had there two temples ; the third Zia, from bread com, which
was called by the Grecians frta. (Potter's Arch. voL I. p. 43. Land.
1751.) Scylax mentions its three ports : 'O & Ilfipatcec Xtpivac. l%u
rpclc. (Scylacis Caryandensis Periplus, p. 47. L. Bat. 1097.
" On the twenty-fourth of June we anchored in the convenient
little harbour of the Pirjbbus; where the chief objects that call for
one's attention are, the remains of the solid fortifications of Them*-
stocles ; the remains of the moles forming the smaller ports within tat
Pirjbbus; two monuments on the sea-shore; and palpable vestiges of
the long walls which connected the harbour with Athens, a distance of
about 4 miles and a half." Colonel Squire's MS. Correspondence.
(4) "Cum Phalero porta, neque magna, neque bono, Athenians*!
uterentur, hujus consilio triplex Piraeei portns constitatns est"
Cornelius Nepos in Themistocle, ap. Gronov. Thesaur. Gr. torn. V. p.
1934. L. Bat. 1699.
THE PIRJEBCS. 381
TkemuioclaP, that it would seem almost impos- chap.
rible to mistake the spot. It was situate at ^^,
the promontory of Alcimus, where the land, sitaatioa
making an elbow, sheltered a part of the bar- £Hb<*
hour ; here, above the still water, might be seen
the tomb. The base, although simple, as stated
by PamsamaSj is by Plutarch said to have been
of no inconsiderable magnitude6; and the tomb
itself, that is to say, the Soros, resembled an
altar placed thereon. Guided by this clue, we
felt almost a conviction that we had discovered
all that now remains of this monument. The
promontory alluded to by Plutarch constitutes
the southern side of the entrance to the harbour7 :
jutting out from the Phrcsean or Munychian
peninsula, it forms, with the opposite promontory
of Eetion, the natural mouth of the port, lying
towards the west, that is to say, beyond the
artificial piers whereby it was inwardly closed8.
(5) Dipt rrjy \ipkva too II<tpai«*£, axb rov cord r>)v 'AXcipov
a'cp+rrnpiov, wpbcurai tic olov dycwy. tax ra/i^avri rovrov Jvrdc, 9 rb
wiro&iunr rift 0aX£rrij£, rpijrtf l<rriv tvptyiOric, rat rb trtpi avrt)v
P*fiott&kc, rafoc tov Of/itorocXfovc- Plutarch, in extremo Themist.
ton. I. Land. 1739.
(6) Etf/icyiOijc.
(7) Voy. Bartkel. '* Plan des Environs (C Athenes, pour le Voyage
dm Jeune Anacharsu." Trobieme edit, a Parti, 1790.
(8)MUt Don tantam arte tatas, Bed natur&etiam ewer." Me%trtii
Pirmeus, ap. Oronov. Then. Qr. torn. V. p. 1935 L. Bat. 1699.
382 VOYAGE TO iEGlNA.
chap. Here we landed ; and found precisely the sort of
v— v-^ base alluded to by the historian ; partly cut in
ofThini ^e natural rock, and partly an artificial state-
ment!" ture > *° ^at a Per8on ascended to the Soros,
as by steps, from the shore of the sea. Our
position of the tomb may be liable to dispute :
the Reader, having the facts stated, will deter-
mine for himself. Of the Soros, not a trace is
now remaining.
Objects As we sailed from the Piraeus, we soon per-
paMriogtbe ceived the Acropolis of Corinth, and, behind it,
Qui ph. ijjgrij mountains which were much covered by
clouds, although the day was remarkably fine.
We lost some time in the harbour, and were
afterwards detained by calms. About three
o'clock, p. m. we passed a small island, called
Beibina. Beibina by D' 'Anville1. About an hour before,
we had observed the thermometer, in the
middle of the gulph : the mercury then stood at
68° of Fahrenheit. A mountain of very great
elevation was now visible behind the lofty rock
of the Corinthian Citadel, and at a great distance.
(I) Its modern name is Lavousa, according to D'Ancil&s Chart of
the Archipelago. Chandler rnneidert the Island of Beibina an lying
towards the mouth of the Gulph. bte Travels in Greece, p. 1 1. 0^f%
1776.
VOYAGE TO JEGINA. 383
Lusieri insisted upon its being Parnassus ; and chap.
Theodore was of the same opinion. Judging t vli'
from our position, it could not have been one of
the mountains of Peloponnesus ; and therefore,
supposing it to have been situate either in
JEtolxa or Pkocis, the circumstance alone is
sufficient to shew how little agreement our best
maps have with actual observations, as to
the relative position of places in Greece.
De JL'lsle* is, perhaps, in this respect, more
disposed to confirm what is here written, than
jyAnville : yet in neither of their maps of the
country would a line drawn from the island we
have mentioned, through the Acro-Corinthus,
reach the mountainous territories to the north of
the Gulph of Corinth. Such a line, traced upon
jyAnville' s Map of Greece?, would traverse the
Sinus Corinthiacus, far to the south of all Phocis
and the land of the Locri Ozolce ; and would only
enter JEtolia near the mouths of the JSvenus and
Archeloiis rivers. D'Anville's Chart of the
Archipelago4 is liable to the same remarks ; we
dare not call them objections, until they have
(8) Grcecice An tiqius Tabula No vb. Par i jr, OrM 707.
(3) Published at Parii in 1762.
(4) Dated, Pans, Oct. 1756.
nius. Jvpiter fanhellenius ; its numerous uorx
standing in a most conspicuous situal
the mountain Panhellenius, high above 1
eastern shore of the island, and risin
trees, as if surrounded by woods. Tl
most antient and the most remarka
of all the temples in Greece: the ii
of JEgina, in a very remote age, maint?
it was built by jEacus. Chandler I
so copious a description of JEgina, ai
temple, that to begin the examihati<
island again, without being able to r
excavations, we considered as like]
attended with little addition to our st<
formation ; and almost as an encroachr
ground already well occupied We
(I) The author having since consulted bis friend. Mr. J
iCGINA. 385
resolved to continue our voyage as soon as we chap.
had landed Lusieri and the Calmucffi. Sailing:
round the north-western point of the ibland, we Antiqui-
observed a very large barrow* upon the shore : tile Port,
this is noticed by Chandler9 as the mound of earth
(\ufia) raised by Tehmon after the death of
PhocvSy as it was seen by Pausanias in the second
century4. Near to this mound there was a
(3) We had good reason afterwards to repent of our folly in making
this resolution ; for although Chandler spent some time upou the island,
it has, in fact, been little visited by travellers. Lusieri found here
both medals and vases in such great number, that he was under the
necessity of dismissing the peasants who bad amassed them, without
purchasing more than half that were brought to him ; although they
were offered for a very trifling consideration. The medals and the
faitf which he collected were of very high antiquity. The medals
were either in silver or lead; and of that rude globular form, with the
talotst on one side, and a mere indentation on the other, which is well
known to characterize the earliest Grecian coinage : indeed, the art
of coining money was first introduced by the inhabitants of this island.
Of the terra-cotta vases which be collected, we afterwards saw several
k hit possession : they were small, but of the most beautiful work-
m*B*hjp; and as a proof of their great autiquity, it is necessary only
*° mention that the subjects represented upon them were historical,
*°d tie paintings monochromatic; black, upon a red ground. We
***e since recommended it to persons visiting Greece, to be diligent
* *h«ir researches upon JSgina; and many valuable antiquities have
^H consequently discovered upon the island.
&> Travels in Greece, p. 1 5. Onford, 1776.
(^)0&r«*£ic rbv Kovirrbv KaXovptvov kipkva ioirXivoac. vvktuq ^
*°*Ct X"/*a *«* rovro pkv IZtpyaoQev, nai ic. tymc In fikvu. (Pausati.
^^mth.c. 29. p. 180. Lips. 1696.) In a preceding passage of the same
chapter.
Vol. vi. c c
386 M G I N A,
c**Ap- theatre, next in size and workmanship to that of
Hieron in JEpidauria, built by Polycletus: and it
had this remarkable feature, that it was con-
structed upon the sloping side of a stadium which
was placed behind it ; so that the two structures
mutually sustained each other1. Afterwards,
entering the harbour, we landed to view the two
Doric pillars yet standing by the sea side : these
may be the remains of the Temple of Venus,
which stood near the port principally fre-
quented2 : and JEgina, even for small vessels, is
elsewhere difficult of access, owing to its high
cliffs and latent rocks*. We saw none of the
inhabitants; but sent the Tchohadar in search,
of a pilot to conduct our caique into the port o
JEpidauria. He returned with a man who pre-
tended to have a perfect knowledge of th
coast, and we took him on board, leaving th
chapter, it is stated, tbattbe tomb (r&f oc) of Phocus, which is also nlWnl
%&pa, was near to the JEacbuk : Uapd 8k rb Aldicuov, Q&kov r&p**C
X&paterl, k. r. X. The JEartum was a tetragonal peribolus of white
marble, in a conspicuous part of the city : 'Ev itn^avkararo 8k rnc
ir6\i<M>c, rb Ai&Kitov koXov/aivov, irtpifioXoc rcrptiywyoc Xivkov \i$ov.
(1 ) Vid. Patuan. Corinth, e. 29. p. 180. Zips. 1606.
(2) IlXiytriov 8k rov Xtfilvoc, Iv tf p&kiora op/iig»yrai, NAOS
ESTIN A*POAITHS. Pautan. Corinth, c. 29. p. 170. Lips. 1696.
(3) TlpooirXivoat 8k AITINA ion vriowrSv'RWnvUuv diropmrar^.
irirpai rt yap ofaXot wtpi iraoav, cat %oip6.8iQ avtorrjicaot. Pav*s**
Corinth, c. 29. p. 178. Lips. 1696.
ISLAND OF ANCHESTRI.
387
two artists, both of whom were already busied Cy^p*
in drawing. u-v~'
As we drew near to Peloponnesus, the
mountains of Argolis began to appear in great
grandeur. We passed along the northern shore
of an island, called, by our mariners, Anchestri : Amhatri
it was covered with trees4. As the evening
drew on, we discovered that our stupid pilot, ignorance
notwithstanding all his boasting, knew no more pilot,
of the coast than the Casvot sailors. As soon as
fogs or darkness begin to obscure the land, the
Oreek pilots remain in total ignorance of their
situation : generally, losing their presence of
roind, they either run their ships ashore, or
abandon the helm altogether, and have recourse
40 the picture of some Saint, supplicating his
miraculous interference for their safety. It
more than once happened to us, to have the
re8ponsibility of guiding the vessel, without
Mariner's compass, chart, or the slightest
knowledge of naval affairs. It may be supposed
(4) The name of this island is written Angistri by D'Anville; and
•J Sir W. Qell, in his valuable Map of Argolis : (See Itin. of Greece,
**** Xxtiii by W. Gell.Esq.M.A. Member of the Society of Dilettanti.
***d.\B\0.) Chandler wrote it nearly as we have done, Anchistre :
CWfct Greece, p. 200. Oxf. 1776.) he says it contained" a few
"HUgesof Albanian,:'
C C 2
388 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, that, under such circumstances, an infant would
VII.
have been found equally fit for the undertaking.
This was pretty much the case upon the present
occasion: we were close in with a lee-shore:
fortunately, the weather was almost calm;
and our interpreter Antonio, by much the best
seaman of a bad crew, had stationed himself in
the prow of the caique, and continued soundings
as we drew nigh to the land. Presently, bein
close in with the shore, we discerned th
mouth of a small cove ; into which, by lowerin
our sails, and taking to the oars, we brought*
the vessel ; and, heaving out the anchor, deter-
mined to wait here until the next morning.
When day-light appeared, we found ourselr «s
in a wild and desert place, without sign of
habitation, or any trace of a living being: higfh
above us were rocks, and among these flou-
rished many luxuriant evergreens. We did not
remain to make further examination of this part
of the coast ; but got the anchor up, andf
standing out to sea, bore away towards the
south-west. We had not a drop of fresh water
on board, but drank wine as a substitute, and
ate some cold meat for our breakfast, — the
worst beverage and the worst food a traveller
can use, who wishes, in this climate, to
B P I A D A. 389
prepare himself for the fatigue he must en- chap.
counter. Our pilot, being also refreshed with
the juice of the grape, affected once more to
recognise every point of land, and desired to
know what port we wished to enter. Being
told that we were looking out for the harbour of
JSpidaurus, or, as it is now called, niAAYPO,
He promised to take the vessel safely in. It
Was at this time broad day-light, and we
thought we might venture under his guidance ;
Accordingly, we were conducted into a small
port neatly opposite to Anchestri. Here we
landed, at ten o'clock a. m. and sent the
Xchohadar to a small town, which the pilot said
Was near to the port, to order horses. We
Were surprised in finding but few ruins near
the shore ; nor was there any appearance to
confirm what he had said of its being Pidauro :
Vre saw, indeed, the remains of an old wall,
and a marsh filled with reeds and stagnant
^ater, seeming to indicate the former existence
of a small inner harbour for boats that had fallen
to decay. The air of this place was evidently
unwholesome, and we were impatient to leave
the spot. When the Tchohadar returned with
the horses, he began to cudgel the pilot ;
having discovered that Pidauro was farther to
the south-west ; this port being called EIIIAAA,
390 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, pronounced Epi-atha, the A sounding like our
v^v-^ th, harsh, as in thee and thou. It is laid down
in some Italian maps under the name of Piada.
The pilot now confessed that he had never
heard of such a port as Pidauro in his life. As
it would have been a vain undertaking to
navigate any longer under such auspices, we
came to the resolution of dismissing our caique
altogether. We therefore sent back the pilot t
JEgvna ; ordering the good Captain to wai
there with his vessel for the return of
and the Calmuck ; and promising him, if he con
veyed them in safety to the Piraeus, to giv
him, in addition to his stipulated hire, a silv
coffee-cup, to be made by an Athenian silv
smith, and to be inscribed with his nam
as a token of our acknowledgments for the
many services he had done for us. The poor
man seemed to think this cup of much more
importance than any payment we had before
agreed to make ; and we left him, to commence
our tour in the Peloponnesus.
The road from the port to the town of
Epiada extends through olive-plantations and
vineyards. The town itself is situate upon a
lofty ridge of rocks, and was formerly pro
tected by an old castle, still remaining. I
£ PI A DA. 391
sequence of our inquiry after antient medals, chap.
3ral Venetian coins were offered to us ; and w»v*^/
number of them found here may serve to
lain the origin of the castle, which was
bably built by the Venetians. But besides
te coins, the author purchased here, for
atv piastres, a most beautiful silver tetra- Greek
J r Medals.
chtn of Alexander the Great, as finely pre-
yed as if it had just issued from the mint ;
2th er with some copper coins of Megara.
\ Greek silver medals, as it is well known,
often covered with a dark surface, in some
ances quite black, resembling black varnish :
nature of this investment, perhaps, has not
11 duly examined : it has been sometimes
sidered as a sulphur et ; but the colour which
>hur gives to silver is of a more dingy
ire, inclining to grey : the black varnish is a
iat of silver1. It may be decomposed by
ling the medals in a boiling solution of
It once happened to the author to open a small case of Greek
medals that had been sank in sea- water. The medals had been
itely enveloped in brown paper, which was now become dry. To
reat surprise, he found every one of them covered with a fine
pable powder, as white as snow. Placing them in a window,
stion of the sun's rays turned this powder to a dark colour : when
ih was used to remove it, the silver became covered with a black
ig varnish, exactly similar to that which covers the antient
coinage of Greece ; and this proved to be a muriat of silver.
395 PELOPONNESU9. #
chap, potass ; but antiquaries in general do not chooe
to have the dark varnish removed. All Grtk
silver coins are not thus discoloured : man
of them retain, in the highest perfection, tt
natural colour and lustre of the metal : tho*
only exhibit the appearance of a black crust <
varnish which have been exposed to the actic
of muriatic acid, either by immersion in «
water, or by coming into contact with it durii
the time that they have remained buried i
the earth. As it had been our original intei
tion to land at JEpidaurus, to examine the r
mains of that city, so we determined now to {
first to that port: but the people of JEpidi
told us that there were scarcely any vestig
even of ruins there ; that all the antiquities v
should find consisted of a headless marb
statue (answering to the description given 1
Chandler9) ; and that the remains of the Temp
of JEsculapius, whom they called 'AcricAaireo
were near to Ligurid. " There," said one
the inhabitants, "are the Ruins of his Templi
but the seat of his government and his p
lace were at Epidaurus (Pidauro), althoug
(1) Travels in Greece, p. 221. Oxford, 177C. Chandler call*
'* a maimed statue of bad workmausliip."
EPIADA.
393
nothing now remains excepting a few broken c^p*
pieces of marble/' The person who gave us *-*v^
this information seemed to be possessed of
more intelligence than it is usual to find among
the Greeks : we therefore profited by his instruc-
tions, and set out for Ligurid.
The temperature on shore, this day at noon,
was the same as it had been upon the preceding
day in the middle of the gulph ; that is to say,
68Q of Fahrenheit It was four o'clock p. m.
before we left Epidda. We noticed here a very
remarkable mineral of a jet black colour, which
at first sight seemed to be coal, but, upon further
examination, it rather resembled asphaltum. It
was very soft ; and, in places where water had
passed over it, the surface was polished. The
specimens being lost, this is all the description
of it we can now give. Our journey from
Epidda towards the interior of Epidauria led us
over mountains, and through the most delightful
vaUeys imaginable. In those valleys we found
the Arbutus Andrachne, with some other species ^jJJS^
°f the same genus flourishing in the greatest
e*uberance, covered with flowers and fruit.
The fruit, in every thing but flavour and smell,
resembled large hautbois strawberries : the
394 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, berries were cooling and delicious, and every
v^v-w one of our party ate of them1. This shrub is
found all over the Mediterranean : it attains to
great perfection in Minorca; and from thence
eastward as far as the coast of Syria, it may be
found adorning limestone rocks otherwise barren,
being never destitute of its dark-green foliage,
and assuming its most glorious appearance
at a season when other plants have lost their
beauty. The fruit is one entire year in coming
to maturity ; and when ripe, it appears in the
midst of its beautiful flowers. The inhabitants
of Argolis call this plant Cukoomari : in other
parts of Turkey, particularly at Constantinople, it
is called Koomaria, which is very near to its
Greek name, Ko/iapoc. It is the 'AvSpa\v^ of
Theophrastus.
Appear- \\re passed an antient edifice : it was noar
ance of toe r
country. t0 a windmill, in a valley towards the right of
our road, and at some distance from us.
Nothing could exceed the grandeur of the
scenery during the rest of our ride to Ligurid.
On every side of us we beheld mountains,
( 1 ) " Arbuteot foetus, montanaque fraga legebaou'
ARGOLIS, 395
reaching to the clouds ; although we rode chap.
continually through delicious valleys, covered
by cultivated fields, or filled with myrtles,
flowering shrubs, and trees. Every fertile spot
seemed to be secluded from all the rest of the
world, and to be protected from storms by
the lofty summits with which it was surrounded.
A white dress, worn by the peasants, reminded
us of the garments often seen upon antient
statues ; and it gave to these delightful retreats
a costume of the greatest simplicity, with the
most striking effect. Lusieri had spoken in
rapturous terms of the country he had beheld in
Arcadia : but the fields, and the groves, aud the
mountains, and the vales of Argolis, surpassed all
that we had imagined, even from his description of
the finest parts of the Peloponnesus. To render
the effect of the landscape still more impressive,
shepherds, upon distant hills, began to play,
as it were an evening-service, upon their reed
pipes ; seeming to realize the ages of poetic
fiction ; and filling the mind with dreams of
innocence, which, if it dwell anywhere on
earth, may perhaps be found in these retreats,
apart from the haunts of the disturber, whose
"whereabout" is in cities and courts, amidst
wealth and ambition and power. All that
seems to be dreaded in these pastoral retreats
396 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, are the casual and rare visits of the Turkish
v~s^ lords : and, unfortunately for us, it was ne-
cessary that our arrival at Ligurid should be
announced by one of their agents ; namely,
Ibrahim the Tchohadar. Although a very ex-
cellent man in his way, he had been brought
up under a notion that Greeks and Albanians
were a set of inferior beings, whom it was
laudable to chastise upon every occasion, and
to whom a word should never be uttered
Z40Wr%dm without a blow. It was nearly dark when we
reached the town ; if a long straggling village
may bear this appellation. Ibrahim rode first,
and had collected a few peasants around him,
whom we could just discern by their white
habits, assembled near his horse. In answer
to his inquiries concerning provisions for the
party, they replied, in an humble tone, that
they had consumed all the food in their
houses, and had nothing left to offer. Instantly,
the noise of IbrahmCs lash about their heads
and shoulders made them believe he was the
herald of a party of Turks, and they fled in all
directions : this was " the only way," he said,
" to make those misbegotten dogs provide any
thing for our supper." It was quite surprising
to see how such lusty fellows, any one of
whom was more than a match for Ibrahim,
L I O U R I O.
397
suffered themselves to be horsewhipped and c*?*p'
driven from their homes, owing to the dread ^**~
in which they hold a nation of stupid and
cowardly Moslems. We should not have seen
another Ligurian, if Antonio had not intercepted
some of the fugitives, and pacified their fears,
by telling them who the travellers really were ;
and that Englishmen would accept of nothing
from their hands without an adequate remu-
neration. After this assurance, several times
repeated, and a present being made to them of
a few pardsf we were conducted to what is
sv i t i Condky op
called a (Jonah, or inn ; but in reality a wretched ion.
hovel, where horses, asses, and cattle of
every description, lodge with a traveller be-
neath the same roof, and almost upon the
same floor. A raised platform about twelve
inches high, forming a low stage, at one ex-
tremity of the building, is the part appropriated
to the guests ; cattle occupying the other part,
which is generally the more spacious of the
two. Want of sleep makes a traveller little
fastidious as to where he lies down : and fatigue
and hunger soon annihilate all those sickly
sensibilities which beset men during a life of
indolence and repletion. We have passed
many a comfortable hour in such places : and
when, instead of the Condk, we were invited
398 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, to the cleanly accommodation offered beneath
the still humbler shed of an Albanian peasant,
the night was spent in thankfulness and luxury.
Here, as at JEpidda, the coins which were
brought to us, as antient medals, were evidently
Venetian: some of them had this legend,
abmata . et . mo re a • but without any date.
The Liguriansy like the inhabitants of JEpidda>
amused us with traditionary stories of Asclapius,
considering him as a great king who had once
reigned in Epidauria. Immense plants of the
Cactus Ficus Indica flourished about this place.
We set out for the sacred seat of JEsculapius,
at sun-rise. The Ruins are situate an hour's
distance from Ligurid, at a place now called
Jero, pronounced Yiro, which is evidently a
corruption of fU$hv (sacra cedes). Chandler con-
verted this word J ho into Gerao, which is
remarkable, considering his usual accuracy.
Our friend Sir W. Gell, who was here after our
visit to the spot, and has published a descrip-
tion and plan of the Ruins1, writes it lero, as
being nearer to the original appellation. Cir-
cumstances of a peculiar nature have conspired
(1) Itinerary of Oreeee, p. 103. Lond. 1810.
l i o u r i o. 399
to render these Ruins more than usually inte- chap.
TIL
resting. The remains, such as they are, lie as
they were left by the antient votaries of the god :
no modern buildings, not even an Albanian hut
has been constructed among them, to confuse
or to conceal their topography, as it generally
happens among the vestiges of Grecian cities:
the traveller walks at once into the midst of the
consecrated Peribolus, and, from the traces he
beholds, may picture to his mind a correct
representation of this once celebrated watering-
place — the Cheltenham of Antient Greece — as
it existed when thronged by the multitudes
who came hither for relief or relaxation. Until
within these few years, every vestige remained
which might have been necessary to complete a
plan of the antient inclosure and the edifices it
contained2. The Ligurians, in the time of
Chandler, remembered the removal of a marble
chair from the theatre, and of statues and inscrip-
tions which were used in repairing the fortifica-
tions of Nauplia, and in building a mosque at
CO Sir W. Ghll, from the remains existing at the time of our visit
t° the place, afterwards completed a very useful Plan, as a Gaidc for
frivellers, both of the inclosure and its environs : this was engraved
&r his " Itinerary of Greece" See Plate facing p. 108 of that work.
***<L 1810.
400 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. Argos1. The discovery of a single marble chat
VII.
either within or near to almost every one of ti
Cathedra celebrated theatres of Greece, is a circumstanc
of a Greek
Theatre, that has not been sufficiently regarded by tha
who are desirous to illustrate the plan of thee
antient structures. We afterwards found
relic of this kind at Chceronea, near to tl
theatre ; whence it had onlv been moved to fori
part of the furniture of a Greek chapel : anoth<
has been already noticed in the description <
Athens; and the instances which have bee
observed by preceding travellers it is iinne
cessary now to enumerate. These chairs, a
they have been called, have all the same form
consisting each of one entire massive block o
white marble, generally ornamented with fin*
sculpture. Owing to notions derived eithe
from Roman theatres, or from the modern cos
toms of Europe, they have been considered a
seats for the chief magistrates ; but even if thi
opinion be consistent with the fact of ther
being one Cathedra only in each theatre, it :
contrary to the accounts given of the place
assigned for persons of distinction in Grecia
(1) See Trav. in Greece, p. 22C. Oxf. 1770.
L I O U R I O.
401
theatres, who were supposed to have sate in °yf^'
the Bouleuticon ; that is to say, upon the eight
rows of benches within the middle of the
(Ko£W) Cavea of the theatre, between the
eighth and the seventeenth row8. How little
beyond the general form of a Greek theatre is
really known, may be seen by reference to a
celebrated work in our own language,3 written
professedly in illustration of the " Antiquities of
Greece." Yet this author, upon the subject of
the Aoyccov, or eu/Ltt'Xf), commonly translated
by the word pulpit, states, distinctly enough,
that it stood in the middle of the orchestra* ;
which, as far as we can learn, is nearly the spot
where these marble relics have been found :
hence a question seems to arise, whether they
(2) This is the part of a Greek Theatre assigned for the /fouXcvrtcdv
V QmUletiere, (see p. 259, Ch. IV. of thh Volume,) who has founded
Us observations upon a careful comparison of the accounts left
by the Antients with the actual remains of the theatres themselves.
Bat Totter, and. after him, other authors who have written upon
Grecian Antiquities, consider the lowest part of the coiloh as the place
appropriated to the seats of the magistrates; which agrees with a
eastern still retained in some countries, especially in Sweden. In the
theatre at Stockholm, the King and Queen sate, in two chairs, in the
pity in front of the orchestra. For the flovXivrucby, the Reader is
referred to Aristophanes, and to Julius Pollux, lib. iv. c. 19.
(9) Arekmologia Orssea, by John Potter, D.D. Archbithop of Can-
terbury.
(4) See vol. I. p. ««• Lond. 1751.
VOL. VI. D D
402 PELOPONNESUS.
•
chap, were not intended, each as a conspicuous place
v#w in the orchestra of the theatre to which it be-
longed, for the better exhibition of those per-
formers who contested prizes upon any musical
instrument, or were engaged in any trial of
skill, where one person only occupied the
attention of the audience. The sculpture upon
one of them, as thrice represented in the third
volume of Stuart's Antiquities of Athens1, seems
to favour this idea of their use : because its
ornaments are actually those prizes which were
bestowed upon successful candidates; a vessel
of the oil produced by the olive-tree that grew
in the Academia; and three wreaths, or chap-
lets, with which victors at the Panathencea were
crowned.
CoronL Proceeding southward from Ligurid, we soon
arrived at a small village called Coron?, whose
(1) See Stuart's Athens, vol. III. pp. 19, 29. <' Whether they hate
been teats for a magistrate in a court of judicature, or of officer! in a
Gymnasium, to not easily determined from their situation." IUL
p. 25. Lend. 1794.
(2) " Possibly an antient name taken from the Nymph Conmis, the
mother of &sculapUts" (CeWs Itinerary qf Greece, p. 103. Lend.
1810.) It were to be wished that this industrious traveller woaW
complete the design originally announced by the appearance of this
publication, and extend it to the rest of Greece, all of which has been
visited
CORONJ. 403
inhabitants were shepherds. Here we noticed chap.
s noble race of dogs, similar to the breed found
in the province of Abruzzo in Italy ; and it is
somewhat singular that the very spot which
still bears an appellation derived from the name
of the mother of JEsculapius should be now
remarkable for the particular kind of animal
materially connected with his history. It was
a shepherd's dog who guarded the infant god, when
exposed upon Mount Tittkion*. We bought a
young one, for ten piastres, of great size and
beauty. It resembled a wolf, with shining
black hair. To complete all the circumstances
of analogy, they had given to it the name of
Kop&u, as if in memory of the KopaX which
Apollo set to watch Coronis after she became
pregnant Cordki proved a useful companion
to us afterwards; as he always accompanied
our horses, and protected us from the attacks
of the large dogs swarming in the Turkish
▼kited, and accurately surveyed by him. Such a work, to use his own
words, M although it be only calculated to become a booh of reference,
emd mot of general entertainment," would be really useful ; and its value
would be felt, if not by an indolent reader at his fire-side, yet by the
active and enterprising scholar, who wishes to be guided in his re-
searches throughout these interesting regions.
(3) A ehepherd's dog was represented as an accompaniment to the
of the God, of ivory and gold, in his temple.
D D 2
404 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, towns and villages, and constantly assailing a
s^vw traveller upon his arrival : indeed, sometimes
it became a question with us, whether Ibrahim
or Cordki were the most intelligent and useful
Tchohadar.
IsLnm. ^ Coroni, turning towards the east, we had
the first sight of the Hieron. Its general
disposition may have been anticipated by the
Reader, in the description already given of the
features of Epidauria. It is a small and beautiful
Mountains. valley, surrounded by high mountains; one of
superior magnitude bounding the prospect on
its eastern side. This, from its double summit,
consisting of two rounded eminences, may
be the mammillary mountain, thence called
Titthion, by Pausanias, from tit0oc; which
word, among a great variety of other instances
proving the common origin of the two lan-
guages*, we have retained in our word teat;
(1) *Opi| Ik dtriv virip rb aXtroQ, rb rt TIT9I0Y, *ai Zrtpov
6vofiaZ6fi€vov Kvvopriov, MaXidrov Sk 'AiroWwog Up6v iv awrm.
Pausan. Corinth, c. 27. pp. 174, 175. Lips. 1696.
(2) The nation from whom the Greeks were descended, and the
ancestors of the JZnglish, spoke dialects of the same language* The
numberless proofs that might be adduced of this are foreign to the
object of this publication ; but, as to an authority for the common
origin of the two colonies, the author is proud to refer to his Grand-
father's learned work on " the Connection of the Roman and Saxem
Cairn* ;"
HIERON. 405
now becoming obsolete. In this valley were chap.
the sacred grove?, and Sanctuary of JEsculapius,
together with numerous baths, temples, a Sta-
dium, a Theatre, and some medicinal springs
and wells ; the remains of all which may still
be severally discerned. The first artificial
object that appeared after we left Coroni, was
a considerable Ruin, somewhat resembling a
castle, at a short distance in the valley upon
our right. Upon closer inspection, it proved
to be a Roman edifice of brick-work, and of
a square form ; possibly one of the benefactions
of Antoninus Pius, who, while a Roman senator,
erected here an hospital for the reception of
pregnant women and dying persons, that were
before always removed out of the Peribolutf, to
be delivered, or to expire in the open air.
Farther on, we perceived the traces of a large
building, divided into several chambers, and
stuccoed ; and it is known that the same senator
also built the Bath of yEsculapius, besides
Cobu," — a work that was highly priied by the greatest Grecian
scholar England ever bad ; namely, the illustrious Porson ; whose
frequent illastratlont and evidences of the fact here alluded to are
recent in the recollection of all who knew bim.
(3) T6 ii 'Ifpdv akaoQ rov 'AcrcXqircov -Ktpd%ov<nv Zpoi xavrax^Bty.
PaumnitB Corinthiaea, c. 27. p. 17'2. Lips. 169G.
(4) Oboi &xo9vii<7Kov(Tiy, ovSi rixrovaiv cu yvvouecc fffWtv ivr*£
rov wtpifiokov. Patuanue Corinthiaca, ib.
406 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, making other donations. We soon came to
VII.
what we supposed to have been the ground-plot
Temple of of the Temple: its remains are seen only at
plus. one extremity, but the oblong plane upon which
this immense fabric stood is clearly marked out
by the traces of its foundations. We had no
sooner arrived, than we were convinced that
the time we proposed to dedicate to these Ruins
would by no means prove adequate to any
proper survey of them: we found enough to
employ the most diligent traveller during a
month, instead of a single day. Near to the
temple is the Stadium ; and its appearance illus-
trates a disputed passage in Pausanias\ for it
consisted principally of high banks of earth,
which were only partially covered with seats.
We observed here a subterraneous vaulted pas-
sage, now choked with rubbish, which con-
ducted into its area2, on the left side of it, and
near to the principal entrance. This Stadium
has fifteen rows of seats ; but the seats are only
at the upper end of the structure; the rest is
of earth, heaped so as to form its sides. The
Stadium.
(1) Vid. Pautan. Corinth, e. 27. p. 173. lib. xir. cam Annot.
Xyland. et Sylb. Edit. Kuhniu Lip$. 1686.
(2) Chandler says, it was a private way, by whieh the Agenothetm,
or Presidents, with the priests and persons of distinction, entered. See
Trav. in Greece, p. 226.
H t E R O N. 407
Theatre is farther on towards the mountains, on chap.
vii.
the right hand ; and it is one of the most re-
markable in all Greece ; not only from the state Theatre.
in which it remains, but in being mentioned
by Pausanias as a work of Polycletus, re-
nowned for excelling all other architects in the
harmony and beauty of his structures*. We
found a subterraneous building, resembling a
small chapel, without being able even to conjec-
ture for what purpose it was constructed, unless
it were for a bath. Near to it we saw also a little
stone coffin, containing fragments of terra-cotta
vases: it had, perhaps, been rifled by the pea-
sants, and the vases destroyed, in the hope of
discovering hidden treasure. But the most
remarkable relics within the sacred precinct
were architectural remains in terra-cotta. We^re™?c"
tural Terra-
discovered the ornaments of a frieze, and part *>""*•
of the cornice of a temple, which had been
manufactured in earthenware. Some of these
ornaments had been moulded for relievos; and
others, less perfectly baked, exhibited painted
surfaces. The colours upon the latter still re-
tained much of their original freshness : upon
(3) ' Ap fioviac tik i) koXXovq ctvcra, tftpgcrerraiv ttoioq Iq SuiXXav
IloXvcXccry yivotr &v &£i6xp***C \ Uo\vK\tiroQ yap Kai Osarpov rovro,
cat cinipa t6 ircpcff p*c 6 tcotrjaac »)v. Paueanim Carmthiaea, c. 27.
p. 174. Lips. 1006.
408 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, being wetted with water, they appeared as vivid
as when they were first laid on ; resembling
the painted surfaces of those "pictured urruT
(as they were termed by our English Pindar)
upon which it is now usual to bestow the appel-
lation of " Grecian vases." The wonderful state
of preservation manifested by the oldest painted
terra cottas of Greece has been supposed to be
owing to the circumstance of their remaining in
sepulchres where the atmospheric air was ex-
cluded ; but these ornaments were designed
for the outside of a temple, or tomb, and have
remained for ages exposed to all the changes of
weather, upon the surface of the soil. In the
description before given of the Memphian Sphinx,
another striking example was adduced, proving
through what a surprising lapse of time antient
painting has resisted decomposition : and if the
period of man's existence upon earth would
admit of the antiquity ascribed by Plato to cer-
tain pictures in Egypt, there would have been
nothing incredible in the age he assigned to
them1. The colours upon these terra cottas were
a bright straw-yellow and red. The building to
which they belonged is mentioned by Pausanias:
(1) Seep. 206, Chap. IV. of the former Volume. « The walk of
great ediScet," says Pauw, (ibid. p. 90S,) " when once painted, re-
mained so for ever."
H I £ R O N. 409
and to increase the interest excited by the chap.
discovery of these curious remains, we found ^^
the same passage of that historian cited by
Winkelmann, to prove that such materials were
used in ancient architecture9. After describing
the Theatre, the Stadium, and other edifices,
Pausanias adds3 : " The Hieron once contained
a portico (*™a), called that of Cotys ; but the
roof felling in, caused the destruction of the
whole edifice, owing to the nature of its mate-
rials, which consisted of crude tiles."
We then went, by an antient road, to the top
of a hill towards the east ; and found upon the
summit the remains of a temple, with steps
leading to it yet remaining : there is reason to
believe this to have been the Temple of the
Corypfwean Diana, upon Mount Cynortium, from Temple of
the circumstance of an Inscription which we dis- i1J^ry"
covered upon the spot. It is imperfect ; but it DUtna%
mentions a priest of Diana, of the name of
Apotatilius, who had commemorated his safety
from some disorder :
(2) Histoire de l'Art chez lea Anciens, torn. II. p. 644. Paris, An 2.
(3) Kai fiv ydp <rro& Kakovfikvrj KStvoq, Karafipvtvroc is ol rov
ip6fov, itifOapro ySrj iracra, iirt bfifJQ rrjc irXlvBov TOirfOtlffa. Pausatu
Corinthiaca, c. 27. p. 174. Lips. 1606.
410 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. APTEMIAOCAT
VII.
OTATEIAIOCCoN
EPAPOAHACTOC
By the side of this temple there was a bath, or
reservoir, lined with stucco, thirty feet by eight,
with some lumachella columns of the Doric
order: the foundations and part of the pave-
ment of the temple yet exist, and these are not
less than sixty paces in extent: we noticed,
some channels grooved in the marble, for con-
veying water in different directions. The traced
of buildings may be observed upon all the
mountains which surrounded the sacred valley £
and over all this district their remains are as
various as their history is indeterminate. Some
of them seem to have been small sanctuaries*
like chapels ; others appear as baths, foun-
tains, and aqueducts. The Temple of the Cory-
phcean Diana is mentioned by Pausanias1 ; and
being identified with this ruin, it may serve to
establish a point of observation for ascertaining
the edifices described by the same author as in
its neighbourhood. It was upon the summit of
(1) 'Ejt» dk rif aKpa rov 6povQt Kopvfaiac kvriv Upbv 'Apripi&oct •*
icai TcAcTiWa lirotrjvaro kv depart pvijpriv. Paumn. Corinth. €. B.
p. 175. Lips. 1096.
HIERON. 411
ortium ; and had been noticed by Telesilla, chap.
VII.
er poems. We next came to a singular and ^*y*^
picturesque structure, with more the^"^60'
larance of a cave than of a building. It was
red with hanging weeds, overgrown with
les, and almost buried in the mountain :
interior of it exhibited a series of circular
es, in two rows, supporting a vaulted roof;
buttresses between the arches being propped
short columns. Possibly this may have
t the building which Chandler, in his dry
, called "a Church" without giving any
ription of it ; where, besides fragments, he
id an Inscription to- far-darting "Apollo*."
upposes the Temple of Apollo which was upon
int Cynortium to have stood upon this spot.
elow this mountain, by the northern side of circular
iter-course, now dry, and rather above the
where it discharged itself into the valley,
small building of a circular form, covered
i dome, with arches round the top. We
id a few imperfect Inscriptions, one of
:h mentions Hierophants, or Priests of Mars,
See the Vignette to this Chapter. The arches may be as old as
ne of Pausanias. The Inscription mentioned by Chandler it as
i : " Diogenes the hierophant, to far-darting Apollo, on account
Ision in his sleep." Tray, in Greece, p. 226. Oxf. 1770.
412 PELOPONNESUS.
r chap. (Ilup^opot,) dedicating some votive offering.
All that we could trace were these letters :
IAPE
♦ AI2N
PYP*OPO
ANE0HKA
The circular building is too modern in its aspect,
and too mean in its materials, for the Tholus
of Pausanias1, of white marble, built by Poly-
cletus, architect of the theatre ; but it may, per-
haps, correspond better with the fountain which
he alludes to, as remarkable for its roof and
decorations9 ; this kind of roof being almost
unknown in Greece, *fhe building, although
smaller, bears some resemblance to the well-
known bath, improperly called the Temple of
Venus at Baite.
Thereof Hence we repaired to the Theatre, now upon
Polycletxis. r t
our left hand, but upon the right to those en-
tering the Hieron from Cvroni, that is to say,
upon its southern side3. Chandler speaks of its
(1 ) O'tKTjfia H trtptfipkc XtOov XcvroD raXovfievov 90A02,yro£6/iijr<u
"xXrjoiov, 9taQ agtov. PautanitB Corinthiaca, e. 27. p. 1 73. Lips. 1 696.
(2) Kai rp>/yi? rtf rt 6p<tyy rai KOOfnp TtpXotvtpOtaQ a£ta. Ibid. p. 174.
(3) 'ErtSavpiotQ ik £<m Biarpov 'EN TQI 'IEPQI, pakurra kpoi tout*
H1ER0N. 413
cc marble seatf9 as " overgrown with bushes4:" chap.
. VII.
those seats, according to our Notes, consist of
common limestone ; a difference of little moment :
but as we paid particular attention to the
dimensions and figure of this splendid structure,
one of the most entire of all the Grecian thea-
tres, and in its original and perfect state one of
the most magnificent5, so we shall be very par-
ticular in giving an account of it. We found it
tenanted by a variety of animals, which were
disturbed at our approach, — hares, red-legged
partridges, and tortoises : our new acquaintance
Cordkiy accompanied by his former master, a
descendant of the goatherd Aresthanas, bounded
among the seats, and, driving them from their
haunts, soon put us into sole possession.
But an animal of a very different nature was
dragged from his lurking-place by Mr. Cripps ;
<Uwv. (Ibid.) This expression of Pausanias, '' Within the Hieron," or
tacred precinct, has been by some preposterously rendered " Within
the Temple." A Theatre within a temple! ! !
(4) Trar. in Greece, p. 235. Oxf. 1776.
(5) This is evident from the manner in which it is always mentioned
by Paueaniat, who speaks of the comparative magnificence and archi-
tectural skill shewn in other theatres, with reference to this of Poly-
detiu in Epidauria. Thus, when he is giving an account of a theatre
in j£gina, he says of it, QtarpSv iori Qiac. altov, xard ri> 'Emdavpiatv
ftiXurra fiiyiOoc Kal ipyaoiav rg v \oinrjv. Pautan. Corinth, c. 29. p,
1*0. Lips.im.
414 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, who, delighted by the discovery he had made,
v^^O came running with an extraordinary snake
sitpent"71 which he had caught among some myrtles, and
held writhing in his hands. It was of a bright
yellow colour, shining like burnished gold, about
a yard in length, such as none of us had seen
before* The peasants, however, knew it to be
a species of harmless serpent, which they had
been accustomed to regard with tenderness,
and even, with superstitious veneration ; telling
us it would be unlucky in any one who should
do it injury. It was, in fact, one of the curious
breed described by Pausanias, as peculiar to the
country of the JEpidaurians, being always harm-
less, and of a yellow colour1. We could not,
however, assist Mr. Cripps in its preservation ;
no one of our party being able to divest himself
sufficiently of a very common antipathy for ser-
pents: and the consequence was, that being
unwilling to put it to death, and the peasants
wishing for its release, he suffered it to escape.
Aspect of The Coilon of this theatre, as usual, has been
scooped in the side of a mountain ; but it faces
the north. As the sea could not enter into the
(1) Ap&coyrcg H ol \oticoi Kai irtoov ykvoq Iq to ZavOonpov piiromt,
Xp4ac» kpoi filv rov MffJcXiyiriov vopiZ,ovraif Kai tfoiv avBpvTOtg 4/MpW
rpifu 61 fiSvr) o$clq tf r&v 'BiritiavpUav yrj, PausanuB Corintkiacfy e.
28. p. 175. Lips, 1606.
HIBRON. 415
perspective, which seems to have been a chap.
[eoeral aim of the architects by whom such
tructures were planned throughout Greece,
bis position of the theatre may have been
esigned to afford it as much shade as its
ituation was capable of receiving. Its northern
spect, and the mountain towering behind it,
lost have protected the whole edifice, during a
Teat portion of the day, from the beams of
le sun ; and we may suppose this to have been
consideration, rather than any circumstance of
ipediency as to the mountain itself, because
le whole circumference of the Peribolus
(Forded declivities equally well adapted to the
urpose of constructing a theatre; and it
\ also well known that the Greeks were
•equently obliged to carry umbrellas (<nc«aSia)
ith them into their theatres : submitting
> their incumbrance, rather than remain
[posed to the sun's rays, The women upon
ich occasions were also attended by their
mbrella-bearers (owaSf^tfpoc)9; and this cus-
>m, from the increase it occasioned in the
irong, added to the embarrassment caused
oaong the audience by the number of um-
rellas intercepting the view of the stage, must
ave rendered a shaded theatre a very desirable
(3) JBlian. Hist. Var. lib. vl. c. 1. Lipt. 1780.
/
/
A
416 PELOPONNESUS.
. ■.-'■ H
f i
* 4
chap, acquisition. Indeed, we know that, upon some
occasions, temporary sheds and large awnings
were erected for the convenience of the spectators.
Every provision of this kind was doubly neces-
sary in the Hieron ; by its nature sultry, owing
to its surrounding mountains, and filled with
inhabitants selected from all the invalids of
Greece^ — the feeble, the enervated, the effemi-
nated votaries of the God, — vainly seeking in
these retreats a renovation of exhausted nature >
or, aged and infirm persons, anxiously looking
for some gleam of cheerfulness, wherewith to
gladden the termination of a career that knew
no hope beyond the grave. It is evident that
the disposition of this popular place of amuse-
ment was arranged with luxury as well as
convenience ; for, in addition to the shade it
offered, the salutary waters of the Hieron
flowed in the deep bed of a torrent immediately
beneath its front1. With regard to the theatre
itself, the Scene, or, as it has been sometimes
improperly called, the Proscenion*, has totally
(1) It is impossible to multiply the number of engravings so often
as the insufficiency of a written description renders their aid requisite;
but the Reader is particularly referred to a view of this Theatre, of
the torrent's course, which is now dry, and of the whole Hieron, a*
engraved from a drawing made upon the spot by Sir W. Gell. See
Itinerary of Greece, Plate 22, p. 104. Land. 1810.
(2) This name applies only to the Stage of a Greek Theatre,
\
H I E R 0 N.
41?
tpeared ; and a9 it was here that Polycletus chap.
ably exhibited the greatest proof of those >-^-w
itectural talents so highly extolled by
mniasy the loss of it is to be regretted : but Perfect
is the entire state of the structure within J^^16
Coilon, that none of the seats are either
ing or imperfect. Owing to their remark-
preservation, we were enabled to mea-
with the greatest accuracy, the diameter
le Conistra, and the dimensions of all the
* appropriated to the spectators. There is
'thing remarkable even in the position of
eats : their surface is not perfectly horizontal ;
architect has given to them a slight
nation, perhaps that water might not rest
i them during rain. The section of these
would exhibit a pro61e of this kind :
CUES
H- INCHES
_J
L. VI. E E
418 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. By a simple contrivance, which is here visible,
the seats of the spectators were not upon a level
Dimen- with the places for the feet of those who sate
Detau of behind them ; a groove, eighteen inches wide,
the Parts. an(j aj)0Uj two inelies deep, being dug in the
solid mass of stone whereof each seat consisted,
expressly for the reception of the feet ; and this
groove extended behind every row of spec-
tators ; by which means their garments were
not trampled upon by persons seated above
them. The width of each seat was fourteen
inches, and its perpendicular elevation sixteen
inches. The number of the seats, counted as
steps from the Conistra or Pit, to the top of the
Coilon, was fifty-six1 : in the same direction
from the Pit, upwards, the semicircular ranges
of the seats were intersected at right angles by
above twenty flights of little stairs ; each flight
being twenty-eight inches and a half wide, and
each step exactly half the height of one of the
benches : these, crossing the several rows from
the Pit upwards, enabled persons to ascend to
the top of the theatre, without incommoding the
spectators when seated. Guilktiere, speaking
of such stairs, says, that near to them were
(1) Sir W. Gell says fifty-five.
HIERON. 419
passages leading to the outer porticoes, by CyAp"
which the spectators entered to take their
places9. He seems to have founded this notion
upon the plan of a Roman theatre, the view of
which he has given in his work3. We do not
remember ever to have seen in Grecian theatres
any such retreats or entrances^ near to the little
stairs for crossing the benches: the entrances
to a Greek theatre were either vaulted passages
at the sides, near to what we should call the
stage-boxes, or in the exterior front of the Scene ,
behind the stage itself1. Many authors speak
of those porticoes, as being erected behind the
Cavea; which, as applied to the theatres of Greece,
is ridiculous9 ; for what can be more absurd
than to tell of buildings behind seats which
were either integral parts of a mountain, or
were adapted to its solid surface. The por-
ticoes to which the audience retired for shelter,
in rainy weather, must have had a different
(3) See Chap. IV. p. 529, of this Volume.
(3) See Plate facing p. 1, from a design by Guiilet ; engraved by
OobitJe, " Athene* ancienne et moderne." Paris, 1675.
(4) See a View of the Theatre at Tel menus, in Chap. VIII. Vol. II.
of the Quarto Edition of these Travels, facing p. 236. Broxbourne.
Second Edit.
(5) See Potter's Archaeolog. Qretc. vol. I. p. 42. Load. 1751 . Har-
Orme. Antiq. p. 18. Land. 1801, &c. &c.
E E 2
420 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, situation. The whole of the Coilon, or Cavea,
that is to say, of the seats taken altogether, was
separated into two parts, an upper and a lower
tier, by a diazoma or corridor, half way from
the top, running parallel to the rows of seats ;
and in this, as upon a platform, there was space
from one extremity of the circular arch to the
other. The two parts of a theatre, thus sepa-
rated, are perhaps all that Vitruvius intended by
the "two distinct elevations of the rows of
benches," which Guilletiere complained of being
unable to reconcile with anything now remain*
ing of antient theatres1. The diameter of the
Conistra, or Pit, taken in the widest part, is one
hundred and five feet ; but as the circular arch
of the Theatre is greater than a semicircle, the
width of the orchestra, that is to say, the chord
of the arch, is barely equal to ninety feet2.
Facing the Theatre, upon the opposite bank of
the bed of the torrent before mentioned, are the
foundations of an edifice of considerable size : but
it were endless to enumerate every indistinct
(1) Seep. 507, Chap. IV. of this Volume.
(2) Sir W. Gtll states it as equal to eighty-nine feet. See I tin. ef
Greece, p. 108. Lend. 1810.
LBSSA. 421
trace of antient buildings within this cele- chap.
VII
brated valley ; nor would such a detail afford v^vw
the smallest satisfactory information. With the
description of the Theatre we shall therefore
conclude our observations upon the Hieron ;
hoping that nothing worthy of notice has been
omitted, respecting one of the most perfect
structures of the kind in all Greece.
We returned by the way of Coroni ; and near Journey to
to JLiguno took a western course in the road
leading towards Nauplia, the antient port of
Argos*. After journeying for about an hour,
through a country resembling many parts of
the Apennines, we saw a village near the road,
with a ruined castle upon a hill, to the right,
where the remains of Lessa are situate. This xeaa.
village is halfway between Ligurid and Nauplia ;
and here was the antient boundary between Epi-
dauria and the Argive territory4. Those Ruins
have not yet been visited by any traveller :
indeed, there is much to be done through-
out Argolis : this country particularly merits
(3)'H NAYDAIA, rb rwv 'Apyctuiv vavcTaBfiov. Strab. Qeog. lib.
▼Ui. p. 505. ed. Oxon. 1807.
(4) Kara $k r^v Aij<T<xav egcrat rrj£ 'Apyttac i? 'E-rriSavpiutv. Paui.
Corinth, c. 26. p. 169. Lips. 1696.
422 PELOPONNESUS.
C*J^P- investigation. The antiquities that occurred in
v^v-^ our route were principally of a sepulchral
*n& Egyp- nature, near to the antient road leading from
qnities. Nauplia, towards Lessa and JEpidaurus ; but so
peculiarly characterized, as to form and struc-
ture, that it is evident they were the works
of the earliest coloinies in Peloponnesus, and
probably of Dorian origin. One of these monu-
ments is decidedly mentioned by Pausanias, as
we shall presently shew ; the only author to
whom we can refer for information concerning
this part of the Peloponnesus. Strabo makes
but few remarks upon the Argive territory ; and
even these are delivered from the observations
of Artemidorus and Apollodorus ; not having
himself visited the spot1. We passed some
tombs that were remarkable in having large rude
stones, of a square form, placed upon their tops;
torn alluded to by Pausanias in the descrip-
tion hefi&agiven of the tumulus raised by Telamon
upon the shore of JEgina, near to the jSEachan.
The (x^Ma) heap had upon the top of it
'Arttoc rpayyq) " a rugged stone," once used,
cording to a tradition in the second century,
Peleus and Telamon, as a discus, with which
•.
lav go q, <iȣ ' Aprtfiititttpog fijaiv. 'AiroXXo^otpoc $i, c. r. A.
lib. viii. pp. 534, 685. edit. Ox on. 1807.
\
\
423
A R G O L I S.
Peleus slew P hocus, during a game of quoits9. It Cvnf-
has been a common notice everywhere, that
anlient heroes were men of gigantic stature.
The fable, therefore, as related to Pausanias by
the JEginetans, is of little moment ; but the fact
of a stone so placed is sufficient to prove that
such a substitute for the Stilt was found upon
a Dorian tumulus of very remote antiquity ; and
the observation of the historian is in some
measure confirmed by the existence of similar
tombs in Argolis corresponding with his de-
scription of the mound in JEgina ; the Dorians
having possessed this island and the Argive
territory nearly twelve centuries before the
Christian aera : at that time the Peloponnesus was
the principal seat of their power, and by them
the city of Megara was then founded. Upon
the left-hand side of the road we also observed
an Egyptian sepulchre, having a pyramidal
shape : and agreeing so remarkably, both as to
form and situation, with a monument mentioned
by Pausanias, that we believed ourselves to be
actually viewing the identical tomb seen by
him8. He supposes the traveller coming in a
(S)Vid. Pausan. in Corinthiac. c. 89. pp. 179, 180. Lips. 169G.
WfyXOfUvotc &' iK'Apyovc le **i)v *Ewidavpiavt forty oiKoSoprjpa
b Mij rvpapltt fidkicrra tUaefttvov, c. r. X. Paus. Corinth, c. 26 p.
1*. Uft. 1696.
424 PELOPONNESUS.
CvfrP' con*rary direction from the line of our route;
that is to say, from Argos towards JSpidauria;
and in so doing he describes a pyramidal struc-
ture as being upon the right of the observer. It
contained, he says1, shields of an Argolk form ;
for a battle had once been fought in the place,
between the armies of Prcetus and Acrisius, upon
which occasion shields were first used, and those
who fell on either side were here buried in one
common sepulchre. However, he is evidently
describing a sepulchre nearer to Argos ; for he
adds, that upon quitting the spot, and turning
towards the right hand, the Ruins of Tiryni
appear8: therefore the pyramidal form may
have been common to many antient sepulchres
in Argolis. Lessa was but a village in the
time of Pausanias*, as it now is; but it was
remarkable for a temple and wooden image4 of
Minerva ; and upon the mountain above the
village, perhaps where the castle now stands,
there were altars of Jupiter and Juno, whereon
sacrifices were offered in times of drought5.
(1) Pautan. Corinth, ibid.
(2) Hpoiovai Sk IvrivQtv rat irrparrctfftv if StZutv, TlpvvBoc lariv
JpctVia. Ibid. c. 25. p. 109. Lips. 1696.
(3) Kara St rffv Iq 'Eiritiavpov evOtlav, ten KQMH Aijaaa. Ibid. p.
1G9.
(4) Naog Kdi loavov. Ibid-
(5) Ibid.
AROOLIS. 425
The mountain then bore the name of Arachnaeus : CJ*£P-
its antient appellation, under Inachus, had been >^v^w
Sapyselatdn5. Mom.
During this part of our journey, the more
distant mountains of the Morea appeared ex-
tremely lofty, elevating their naked summits
with uncommon sublimity. The road led
through a mountain pass that had been strongly
fortified. We saw everywhere proofs of the
fertility of the soil ; in the more open valleys,
plantations of pomegranate and mulberry trees ;
and even amidst the most rocky situations, there
sprouted myrtles, beautiful heaths, and flower-
ing shrubs, among which sheep and goats were
browsing in great number. We met several
herds upon the road, each herd containing from
seven to nine hundred head of cattle. As we
drew near to the sea-side, we passed a very
extensive plantation of olive-trees ; and came to .
an antient paved road, leading from Nauplia
towards Argos the once-renowned capital.
Sepulchres, as old as the age of Danaus, appeared
among the rocks before we reached the town.
Strabo assigns to them even an earlier date ; he
(0) EaTi/ffiXdrwv. Ibid.
426 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, says they were called Cyclopia, as having been
y^s^s the work of the Cyclops1 ; it being usual to at-
Cytiopta. tribute to a race of men who, from their power,
were considered by after-ages as giants, any
result of extraordinary labour8. The beauties
of the scenery, and the interesting nature of the
country, had detained us so long, that we did not
Xaupiia. reach Naupija until the gates were shut1;
and there was no possibility of causing a re-
quest to be conveyed to the Governor for their
being opened ; neither would any attention have
been paid to such our petition, if it had been
made. The worst of the scrape was, that all our
beds and baggage, being with the sumpter-
horses and guides, had already entered the town
before the gates had been closed. There
seemed, therefore, to be no other alternative,
but that of ending a long day of entire fasting
without any hope of nourishment, and with
(1) 'Effgifc ik rp NavarXia ra ffirqXata, xai oi iv clvtoiq ouco^o/tifrot
XafiCpivBoi' KYKAQIJEIA £' 6vopaZovotv. Strabon. Geog lib, tiii.
p. 630. ed. Oxon.
(2) *' Cyclopia autem dicta hsec vfdentur, ob magnitodine : ' nam,
ioqait vetus Papinii interpres (ad Theb. I. i. ver. 961.) • qukquid mag-
nitudine tud nobile est, Cyclojtum manu dicitur fabricatum.' " Vid.
Annot. Cataub. in Strabon. Geog. lib. *iii. p. 586. (4.) edit. Oxon. 1807.
(3) Sir W. Gell makes the distance from Ligurid to Xaupiia fire
hoars and forty-eight minutes ; not quite equal to sixteen miles English.
See Jtin. of Greece, p. 101. Lond. 1810.
NAUPLIA. 427
\ certainty of passing the rest of the night c"*p-
lseless in the suburbs of Nauplia. After
ae time, the Tchohadar found a miserable
*d, whose owner he compelled to provide a
r boards for us to sit upon ; but neither the
srs of money, nor Ibrahim's boasted resource
flagellation, from which we found it almost
possible to restrain him, availed any thing
yards bettering either our lodging or our fare,
eary, cold, and comfortless, we remained
mting the moments until the morning ; with-
t fire, without light, without rest, without
d : but the consciousness of being upon
ra firma, and that we were not exposed, as
had often been, under circumstances of
ual privation, to the additional horrors of a
npestuous sea, made our situation compara-
ely good, and taught us to be thankful.
As soon as day-light appeared, the worthy
>nsul, Mr. Victor Dalmar, who had received
r baggage, and was uneasy for the safety
his expected guests, caused the gates to
opened rather earlier than usual4. The
I) u The Turks suspend a sabre o?er the gateway, as a memorial
t the place was taken by assault." Squire's MS, Correspondence.
428 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. Governor, to whom he had made application,
^w sent orders to the gate, desiring to see us. We
begged to decline this honour, pleading our
fatigue and indisposition as an apology for not
waiting upon him ; but sent the Tchohadar, as
our representative. Ibrahim, having put on
his fur pelisse, and a fine tall calpack with a
turban of white muslin, looked like a Vizir,
and quite as respectable as any Pasha of three
tails throughout the Giand Signiors dominions.
When we arrived at the Consul's house, we
found sitting in a little hot close room smelling
most unpleasantly of stale tobacco fumes, a
short corpulent man about fifty years of age,
who began talking to us very loud, as people
often do with foreigners, believing them to be
deaf: he announced himself to us as our host;
and, from the appearance of everything around
him, we expected indifferent accommodation.
House of In this, however, we were mistaken : we were
" shewn to some rooms lately whitewashed ; the
chambers of the Consul's house, as usual,
surrounding a court, and communicating with
each other by means of a gallery. In these
rooms there was not a single article of fur-
niture, but they were clean, and we were able
to spread our mattrasses upon the floor; and
soon found ourselves comfortably lodged in as
N A U P L I A. 429
hospitable a mansion as any in all Greece ; our chap.
benevolent host contriving everything for our v^v^
welcome, and endeavouring to prolong our stay
as much as possible. After we had taken a
little rest, we were roused by the firing of
Turkish cannon in the Citadel; and Ibrahim,
returning from his mission, brought the Gover-
nor's message to the Consul, informing him that
he bad just received from Stambol (Constan-
tinople) intelligence of the expulsion of the
French from Egypt; and that he had orders
from his Government to make it publickly
known. We were shewn a copy of the Takhrir, Turkish
or official note, the only Turkish Gazette we
had ever seen, announcing an event nearly a
quarter of a year after it had happened. It was
in manuscript, and Mr. Dalmar translated it for
us. The nature of the intelligence was curious
enough : it set forth, after a long pompous
preamble, that "public rejoicings were to be held
throughout the Ottoman Empire, for the deliverance
of(Misr) Egypt from the hands of cursed Infidels
forsaken of God, owing to the bravery and prudence
of Hussein Pasha and of the troops belonging to the
Sublime Porte of solid glory, led on by their great
Prophet" §fc. Sfc. The only mention made of any
obligation to Great Britain was tagged on in the
form of a postscript, merely stating that " English
430 . PELOPONNESUS.
chap. Djowrs (Infidels) had acted friendly upon the
ww occasion.9' Thus the deliverance of Egypt, pur-
chased at the price of British blood, and for
which Abercrombie died, throughoutthe immense
empire of Turkey was ascribed to a dastardly
banditti, who were idle spectators of the con-
test, encumbering rather than aiding the opera*
tions of our armies.
*
Public The rejoicings at Nauplia began immediately :
*"' they consisted of an irregular discharge of small
artillery most wretchedly managed, and the ex*
hibition of athletic sports before the Governor's
windows; followed afterwards by a few bad
fireworks, displayed without any effect, by day-
Attdet*. light. The Athletes were principally wrestlers.
We saw two of them advance into the arena
where the combat was to take place : they came
hand in hand, capering and laughing as if highly
gratified by the opportunity of shewing their
skill : presently they put themselves in various
attitudes, and began to make faces at each
other. These men afforded a perfect repre-
sentation of the antient IlaAq, the oldest of
ail the exercises1. They wore tight leather
(1) Even the origin of its name, na\i), is uncertain. VirgU deltas
the exercise from the Trojan* , JEn. lib. Hi. 980.
" Actiaque Iliads celebramus littora ltidis."
NAUPL1A. 431
ches, well soaked in oil ; in other respects chap.
* bodies were stark-naked, except being ^J^
oted with oil9, and rubbed over with dust'.
;ain the victory, it was necessary not only
one of the combatants should throw the
r, but that, having thrown him, he should
able to keep his adversary lying upon
back, until he, the conqueror, regained
feet; for in the struggle they always fell
ther4. We had also the satisfaction of
lg that most antient military dance the pyrrhica.
rhica, as it had perhaps existed in Greece
i the time of its introduction by the Son of
illes, or by the Corybantes. In fact, it was a
rtan dance, and therefore peculiarly appro-
te at a neighbouring Nauplian festival. It
isted of men armed with sabres and
Ids, who came forward in a kind of broad-
•d exercise, exhibiting a variety of martial
" Exercent patrias oleo labente palaestra*
Nudati socii." Ibid. 281.
Vid. Ovid. Met. be. 35. Stat. Theb. ▼!. 846. Lucian. de Oymn.
). Among tbe Antients, the dust for the wrestlers was kept in a
ular place. Plutarch. Symp. II. Prob. 4. p. 638. C. Vitruu. V. 1 1.
i£r'j Notes to Bo*.
The same rale, according to Mr. Thornton, is observed in other
of Turkey. (See T?,orntonfi Turkey, vol. II. p. 207. Land. 1 800.)
tient wrestling, the prize was obtained by throwing an adversary
times.
432 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, evolutions, to the sound of Turkish flutes. Such
VII. >
v^y*^ amusements and customs are never likely to be
discontinued in any country, so long as any
portion of the original inhabitants remains:
indeed they often continue to exist when a new
race has succeeded to the old inhabitants ; being
adopted by their successors1.
Popoia- The population of NaupUa consisted of two
thousand persons, at the time of our arrival.
The plague had raged during three successive
years, and had carried off six thousand of its
inhabitants. When free from this scourge, it
is a very unhealthy place, the people being
Bad Air. attacked annually with a malaria fever. The
few merchants who reside here, have generally
country houses, and leave the town in the
summer months. The night we had passed in
the suburb exposed us to an attack of this kind ;
the author having caught the fever, and all our
party being in a certain degree affected by the
unwholesome air. The only remedy is the red
Peruvian bark ; but it must be administered in
(1 ) All the Invasions and conquests to which our island has been
liable, during nineteen centuries, have not abolished the rites of the
Muletoe; and some of the games of the earliest inhabitants of Greet
Britain are still practised in the country.
NAUPLIA. 433
very powerful doses, A traveller in Greece chap.
should consider this medicine as absolutely ^w
necessary to his existence, and never journey
unprovided*. The commerce of Nauplia has commerce.
been for some time upon the decline. The
exports are, oil, spunges, and wine. Formerly,
the produce of the Morea for exportation, in the
first of these articles alone, (and almost all of it
went from Nauplia,) amounted, in a good year, to
one million of Turkish quilots : even now, if the
crops have not been deficient, the produce of
Corinth, Misitra, Nauplia, Argos, Sec. is sufficient
for the freightage of twenty-five vessels. A
barrel of fine oil sells here for twenty-six or
twenty-eight piastres; each barrel containing
forty-eight okes. The other exports of the Morea,
from this port, are Velani acorns, vermilion, and
wine, of which a great quantity is made, the
soil of the Peninsula being particularly favour-
able to vineyards. The people of Nauplia were
early renowned for the cultivation of the vine :
they formerly worshipped, as an idol, an ass's
head; because that animal, by browsing the
(2) Perhaps the arsenic solution, called " tasteless ague drops,"
might prove even a more potent remedy; and it would be more
portable, owing to the small quantity of arsenic necessary in its prepa-
ration.
VOL. VI. F F
434 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, vines, taught them the art of pruning1. Very
excellent oil is made at Mitylene, whence a
considerable quantity comes to NaupUa to be
exported. They receive also from Misitra forty
or fifty thousand okes of silk ; and this is of three
sorts or qualities : the finest is called (<tyl) Op$6 ;
the second sort, Karatch kemi litchi; and the
third, Kassagico*. There is perhaps, no place in
Greece where the antient medals of the country
may be purchased in greater number, or found
in a higher state of perfection, than at NaupUa.
We obtained here the oldest silver medals of
Corinth, of Argos, of Dorium, in Messema, and of
JEgxna. Old Roman copper coins might be had,
literally, by the handful. Silver medals of the
Achaian League, with the head of Jupiter, lam-
relied, in front, and the monogram J\. on the
obverse side, were very common. Upon the
oldest Corinthian silver, the head of Pallas was
represented, within an indented square; or the
(1 ) Vid. Pausan. in Corinthiac. c. 38. p. 20] . Lip$. 1686.
(2) We cannot pretend to accuracy in writing these words; they are
merely an adaptation of the letters of our alphabet to sounds, as they
seemed to be uttered. The Karatch is a capitation-tax, levied upon
Greeks and Jew* : and possibly the second sort of sUk may be the
result of such a tax, taken in kind.
NAUPLIA. 435
figure of* flying Pegasus with the wings curved chap
towards the head, and beneath the animal the v-^>r^
Phoenician letter Q Koph. Some, upon their ob-
verse sides, exhibited only the indented square,
divided into four parts, with a grain in each.
We had not seen any Gipsies since we leftGip^es.
Russia; but we found this people in Nauplia,
under the name they bear in Moldavia, of
Tchinganehs. How they came hither, no one
knew; but the march of their ancestors from
the north of India to Europe, so lately as the
beginning of the fifteenth century, will account
for their not being found farther towards the
south ; and this is now so well ascertained, that
no one would expect to meet a Gipsy upon any
of the southern shores of the Mediterranean. To
have found them in the Peloponnesus is rather
remarkable, considering that their whole tribe,
at the first, did not exceed half a million ; and
this number has subsequently much diminished.
Their progress towards this peninsula may have
been through Bulgaria, Thrace, and the other
northern parts of Greece, from Moldavia, Transyl-
vania, and Wallachia, where they are numerous,
and find employment in collecting gold from the
alluvial deposit of the rivers. Through the same
countries they may have reached Asia Minor ;
f f 2
VII.
436 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, but we believe the Morea to be the utmost
extent of their journey towards the south, since
the period of their first migration1.
The streets of Nauplia are as they probably
existed in the time of Pausanias ; narrow, dark,
and dirty. It is mentioned both by Xenophon*
and by Euripides?; but its antient name of
Nauplia is now corrupted by the Italians into
Napoli di Romania. The high and abrupt moan-
tain upon which the Acropolis is situate, still
retains the name of the hero Palamedes, son of
Nauplius, in the appellation Palamedi. There is
nothing remarkable in the town itself, excepting
its situation ; and this, like the site of many
other Grecian cities, borrows from Nature some
of her grandest features, each disposition of
them being at the same time distinguished by
something peculiar to itself. Athens, Argos,
(1) Beaujour mentions them as forming part of the population of
Salonica, under the name of Tchinghbnais. Tableau de la Commu
de la Grece, torn. I. p. 53. Paris, 1800. It is said they are also seen in
Spain.
(2) Xenophont. Hellenic. lib. ir. Annot. Forst. in Strabon. lib. ix.
p. 585. ed. Oxon.
(8) Euripides in Oreste, ver. 53. Ibid.
"Hcci yap tig yfjv McviXcwc Tpotag awo,
Aiukva $k NatnrXtttov UirXtipuv w\dry9
'Acraiffty oputi.
N A U P L I A. 437
Nauplia, Corinth, and many more, had each their chap.
lofty citadel, with its dependent burgh, and fer- s^v^/
tile plain : in this they resembled each other ; ^riaic
but in certain characteristics they all differ. ofGr£L»
Athens appears as a forsaken habitation ofCities*
holiness: for a moment, unmindful of the de-
grading character of its Divinities, the spectator
views with a degree of awe its elevated shrines,
surrounded on every side by a mountain barrier,
inclosing the whole district as within one conse-
crated Peribolus. Argos, with less of a priestly
character, but equal in dignity, sits enthroned
as the mistress of the seas : facing the sun's
most powerful beams, she spreads her flowery
terraces, on either side, before the lucid bosom
of the waters in regal majesty. Nauplia,
stretching out upon a narrow tongue of land, and
commanded by impregnable heights, rich in the
possession of her port, " the most secure and
best defended in the Morea\" but depending
always upon Argos for supplies, was fitted, by
every circumstance of natural form, to become
a mercantile city, and the mart of Grecian com-
merce. Corinth, the Gibraltar of the Pelopon-
nesus, by its very nature a fortress, is marked
by every facility that may conduce to military
(4) Chandler's Travels in Greece, p. 227. Oxf. 1 776.
438
PELOPONNESUS.
chap, operations, or render it conspicuous for its war-
like aspect. In every part of Greece there is
something naturally appropriate to the genius
and the history of the place ; as in the bubbling
fountains and groves of Epidauria, sacred to
JEsculapins ; the pastoral scenes of Arcadia,
dedicated to the Muses and to Pan ; the hollow
rocks of Phocis, echoing to Pythian oracles;
and perhaps the custom of making offerings to
all the Gods, upon the summits of Olympus and
Parnassus, did not so much originate in any
Eastern practice, as in the peculiar facility
wherewith the eye commanded from those
eminences almost every seat of sanctity in
Greece1.
(1) The old Grecian custom of uttering the K^pu IXiqaov ("Lord
have mercy upon us /") and making sign of reverence upon coming in
sight of any place of worship, is still retained among Greek Christians
but particularly in Russia: the Russians use the same expression
literally translated, '< Ghospodi Pomilui!" As the practice enjoined
reference to every particular shrine, it must necessarily become •
general homage to all the Divinities, when temples belonging to all
the Gods were rendered visible at the same time, in the tame manner
as our Churches become conspicuous to the common people, who, in
every Christian country, frequently employ themselves in counting
them from the tops of their hills. Perhaps this may explain the
beginning of those offerings to all the Gods which were made by the
Antient Greeks upon the summits of their mountains ; rather than tb«
ridiculous notion of being nearer to their Divinities* The first temples
were tombs; and these were not upon the tops of mountains, but in tb«
plain*
NAUPLIA TO T1RYNS. 439
On Wednesday, November the ninth, we left chap.
Nauplia, accompanied by the two sons of Mr. v^v^s
Dalmar, to visit the remains of Tiryns8, and
thence proceed to Argos, Mycencs, and Nemka,
in our way to Sicyon and, Corinth. The lofty
Citadel of Palamedi towered above us, on our
right hand. We passed several gardens, and
some pleasing kiosks, or summer-houses, situate
near the town. The walls of Tiryns are not Tiryns.
more than an English mile and a half distant
from Nauplia ; or half an hour, according to the
Turkish mode of reckoning*. The sight of them,
in a moment, carried our reflections back to the
plains below, near to the cities and public roads : therefore, by going
to the summits of mountains, they, in fact, went farther from their
Gods. This suggestion is, however, only made with reference to
Eotytheism, and to the nature of the offering : the worshippers of one
Cod, as we learn from Herodotus, with regard to the Persians, who
built no temples, chose the tops of the highest hills and mountains for
their places of worship. (Herodot. Hist. lib. i.) Strabo also observes
of them, that they had neither images nor altars, but paid their
adoration upon some high place. (Strabon. Geog. lib. xv.) Cyrus
having had a dream, forewarning him of his approaching death,
sacrificed upon the summit of a mountain. ( Vid. Xenophon. lib. viii.)
The inhabitants of Pontus and Cappadocia practised the same kind of
worship. (Appian. lib. de BeUo Mithrid. p. 366.)
(2) M ird 8k AaxtBaiuova w6Xic *<rriv*APr02, ko! Iv airy NAYHAIA
t4Xic, Kai \iur,v. 'Ev utaoyita Si KAEQNAI, Kal MTKHNAI, xal
TIPTN6A. Scylaeis Caryandensis Periplus,p. 43. L. Bat. 1697.
(3) See GtlVs Itinerary of Greece. Lond. 1810.
440 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, most distant ages of history1: we seemed, in fact,
v^v^z to be once more among the Ruins of Memphis.
The coming of an Egyptian colony to this part
of Peloponnesus, about fifteen centuries before
our sera, i3 a fact attested by the highest
(Mb md authority of written testimony*; but there is
Archu^ something in the style of the architecture here,
lure* which, when compared with other remains of
a similar nature, and added to a few historical
facts, seems rather to prove it of Celtic, than of
Egyptian origin. We purposely avoid entering
into any detailed description of the dimensions
of this gigantic building, because a most faithful
delineator has already anticipated whatever we
might have said upon the subject. To his work
we must therefore refer the Reader8; merely
(1) It is said, by Strabo, Pausanias, and other historians, that the
walls of Tiryiw were built by the Cyclop*, the same persons to whom
Strabo ascribes the origin of the Nauplian Covet. Of the Cyciopt
nothing certain is known. They were supposed to be the sons of Ccrius
and Terra ; and this notion is enough to prove that all concerning
their history is involved in fable. There were no less than three distinct
races of men who bore this appellation. (Fid. Cataubon. Annot. n
Strabon. lib. viii.) Some allusion to the builders of Tiryns will be
again introduced, in the next Chapter.
(2) A* OY NAYS HEKTHKONTA KQHQN E£ AirYHTOY
EIS THN BAAAAA EHAEYZE, c. r. X.
Vid. Chronicon ex M armor. Arundel. Epoch, ix.
(3) See GelUi Itinerary of Greece, pp. 54, 66, 50, 57, 58. Plates xr.
xv i. xvii. Lend. 1810.
TIRYNS. 441
stating of the walls of Tiryns, that, with the chap.
exception of the interior structure of the ^,^>
Pyramids of Egypt* a more marvellous result of
human labour has not been found upon earth.
The Celts have left in Great Britain a surprising
specimen of the Cychpian style in architec-
ture : and it may be said of their temple at
Stonehenge, that it has all the marks of a
Phoenician building4: hence a conclusion might
be deduced, that the Celts were originally
Phoenicians, or that they have left in Phcenice
monuments of their former residence in that 0ri*in of
country. If it be asked, in what region of the ptan style.
(4) Stonehenge might be considered as a Phoenician building, from its
resemblance to the style of the architecture observed upon the eastern
shores of the Mediterranean, added to the knowledge we have of
Phoenician settlements upon our south-western coasts : but the same
kind of building exists in the northern parts of our island, and in
Ireland, and may be noticed over all the territories of the Belgce and
Ctmbri. Having accidentally alluded to this remarkable structure, it
would be worse than mere omission to avoid noticing an observation
concerning it by that learned antiquary R. P. Knight, Esq. as founded
apon a fragment of the writings of Hecatjeus. " From a passage of
Bseateeus, preserved by Diodorus Siculus, 1 think it is evident that
Stonehenge, and all the other monuments of the same kind found in the
Korth, belonged to the same religion which appears, at some remote
period, to have prevailed over the whole Northern hemisphere.
According to the same historian, the Hyperboreans inhabited an island
fcyoad Qaul, as large as Sicily, in which Apollo was worshipped in a
circular temple, considerable for its size and riches."
442 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, globe a taste originated for the kind of arehi-
\^-v^s tecture termed, by the Greeks, Cyclop6anl9 per-
haps the answer may be, that it was cradled
in the caves of India ; for many of these, either
partly natural, or wholly artificial, whether
originally sepulchres, temples, or habitations,
it matters not, are actually existing archetypes
of a style of building yet recognised over all
the western world, even to the borders of the
Atlantic ocean : and the traveller who is accus-
tomed to view these Cyclopian labours, however
differing in their ages, beholds in them, as it
were, a series of family resemblances, equally
conspicuous in the caverns of JElephanta, the
ruins of Persepolis, the sepulchres of Syria and
of Asia Minor j the remains of the most antient
cities in Greece and Italy, such as Tiryns and
Qrotona, and the more northern monuments of
the Celts, as in the temples called JDruidical;
especially that of Stonehenge, in the south of
History of England. The destruction of Tiryns is of such
ynM' remote antiquity, that its walls existed, nearly
as they do at present, in the earliest periods of
Grecian history. JElian says its inhabitants fed
(1) See a former Note, opou the application of this term among the
Greek writers.
TIRYNS. 443
upon wild jigs*, and the Arcadians upon acorns*, chap.
The Argives laid waste the city, and removed
its inhabitants to their own capital. Pausanias,
by whom this is mentioned4, makes frequent
allusion to its marvellous walls?, considered by
him not less entitled than the Pyramids of Egypt
to rank among the wonders of the antient world6.
The prodigious masses of which they consist
were put together without cement ; and they
are likely to brave the attacks of time through
ages even more numerous than those which
have already elapsed since they were built.
Owing to its walls, the city is celebrated in the
poems of Homer1; and the satisfaction of seeing
an example of the military architecture of the
(9) This it rather an argument for their JESgyptian origin ; for
by the wUd Jig if probably intended the Fiat* Sycamorus, the fruit
of which it still eaten in Egypt. We did not, however, notice this
tree in Greece.
(3) JEUan. Hist Var. lib. iii. c. 39.
(4) 'Avkcrtiaav $i Kai TipwOiovc 'Apyi lot, ovvoLkouq wpoaXafitiv, *al
ro'Apyog IwavlriGai OtXrivavriQ. Pausan. Corinth, c. 26. p. 100.
I4p#. 1096.
(5) Vid. Pauean. in Achate, c. 25. p. 689. in Baotic. c. 86. p. 788, &c.
Lip*. 1896.
(6) Td rtixv r& iv TlpvvOt obtik Iwifipax* Ijyayov pyqpifg, ovtl hvra
IX&rrovoc Oavparoc. Ibid. p. 783. Bceotic. c. 36. Lips. 1096.
(7) 0* 8* "Apyog r9 tlxov, TipvvOd rt rux^oitrtrav.
Iliad. /3. ver. 650.
444 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, heroic ages, as it was beheld by him, is perhaps
*~~^s only granted to the moderns in this single
instance. They have remained nearly in their
present state above three thousand years. It
is believed that they were erected long before
the Trojan war : as to the precise period, chro-
nologists are so little agreed with regard even
to the arrival of the Phoenician and Egyptian
colonies under Cadmus and Z>anau$, that a dif-
ference of at least a century may be observed
in their calculations1. The celebrity of their
Citadel is almost all that is now known of the
5ST» Tirynthians, excepting their natural tendency
ryntMant. to j^jp^ an(j frivolity. If we may rely upon
an anecdote cited by the AbbS Barthelemy* from
Athencmf, in their characteristic disposition
they were nearly allied to the Parisians of the
present day ; and, for want of a better argu-
(1) The Editor of the Chronicle improperly called Parian (which
we stated to have been found in Ceos) dates the coming of Cadmus to
Thebes 1519 years before Christ : but he adds, in a Note, " IHodorut
and Eusebius make Danaus go Into Greece, before Cadmus went fn
search of Europa. DiocL Sic. lib. v. p. 339. Oar chronologer places
Cadmus eight years before Danaus.** (See p. 25. Lond. 1788.) Others
date the arriral of Cadmus 1493 before Christ.
(2) Voyage da Jeune Anacharsis, torn. i?. p. 349. Paaris, 790.
(3) Theophrastus ap. A then. lib. vl. c. 17. p. 261. Lugd. 1657.
Eustath. in Odyss. lib. xviii. p. 1839. lln. 47.
TIRYN8.
445
ment, the Members of the French Academy chap.
may recur to the story, in support of a very
probable truth ; namely, that the Tirynthians
and the Gauls were only earlier and later scions
of the same Indio- European stock. Such was
their remarkable levity, that the most serious
and important concerns served among them
merely to give a turn to a bon-mot. At last
even fun became a bore ; and they applied to
the Oracle of Delphi, to be delivered from the
ennui of its perpetual recurrence. The answer
of the Oracle put them to a trial, which only
served to render their natural character the
more conspicuous : it promised relief, upon con-
dition, that, after having gravely sacrificed a
bull to Neptune, they should as gravely cast it
into the sea. For this purpose the Tirynthians
assembled upon the shore ; taking especial
care to prevent the juvenile members of their
society from being present at the solemnity.
A young pickle, however, made his way into
the crowd ; and finding they were eager to drive
him from the ceremony, exclaimed, "Are ye
then afraid lest I should swallow your bull ?"* The
(4) Thai rendered by Barthelemy. The words in the original, how-
ever, are, Ti ^qr*, fyt), didoucart /*») rbv afayiov v/awp avarptyv,
Athenmi Deipnotoph. lib. vi. c. 17. p. 261 . Lugd. 1657.
446 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, words were no sooner uttered, than a general
roar of laughter burst from the whole assembly;
and being thus persuaded of their incurable dis-
position, they submitted to their destiny.
PBL0P0N.VBSD8.
Further inquiry into the Origin o/*Tiryns — Road
to Argos — River Inacbus — Plants and Mine-
rals— Argos — Terra-cotta Vases — Ignorance
of their sepulchral use — Hecate's Supper —
Lectisternium — Probable cause of depositing
Earthen Vessels in Sepulchres — Origin of the
custom — Population of Argos — Antiquities —
Theatre— Hieron of Venus — Diras— Cyclopea
— Alcyonian Lake — Oracular Shrine — Other
remains of the city — Character of the antient
Argives — View of the Argive Plain — Fabulous
Contest
448 PELOPONNESUS.
Contest between Neptune and Juno — Hieron of
Ceres My sias — A ntiquity of fictile materials in
building — Mycenae — State of the Ruins — Ex-
traordinary Sepulchre — not the treasury of
Atreus — Heroum of Perseus — Sophocles —
internal evidence of his having visited the spot —
of the Aw/ia and TlpowvXala — Tomb of Aga-
memnon— Interior of the Tumulus — Enormous
lintel— Use of the triangular cavity above the
entrance — Inner chamber — Leonine Gate —
Dimensions and description of the Propylsea—
Mythological Symbols — Consecrated Orates —
Of the Pylagorae — ^Egyptian characteristics —
Worship of the Sun — Walls of Mycenae.
via/ J- he advocates for the early origin of " the
^T** pointed style" in Gothic architecture will have
Farther * J
inquiry cause enough for triumph in the Cyclopean
origin of Gallery at Tiryns ; exhibiting " lancet arches"
almost as ancient as the time of Abraham1 : and
if the learned Pezron have not erred in his
history of the Gauls, the Citadel itself may be
considered as a Celtic structure2. Be this as it
may, the subject is certainly curious; and if it
(1) The author would have accompanied this by an engraving, but
it has been superseded by Sir W. GelVs most accurate representation
of the Gallery at Tiryiu, as published in his Work, to which the Reader
is particularly referred. (See GelVs Itinerary of Greece, Plate xyL
p. 56. Lond. 1810.)
(2) See a most ingenious Dissertation on the " Antiquities of
Nations," by Paul Pezron. Lond. 1800.
TIRYNS. 449
serve only as an amusing topic of research, will chap.
perhaps be gratifying to the studious Reader.
In tracing the march of the Celtce out of the
regions of Upper Asia, he brings a colony,
under the name of Titans, from Phrygia into
Peloponnesus, some years before the death of
the patriarch Abraham*. These men, owing to
their astonishing power and prowess, and the
mighty works whereby they became signalized,
he believes to have been the Giants and Titans
of the Septuagint version of Isaiah* and of
Judith5 ; men who became afterwards the omni-
potent and sovereign gods of Greece and Rome ;
owing to a common practice among the
Antients, of deifying their deceased monarchs.
He finds, moreover, the names of all their
Princes in the Celtic language6. In a work of
this kind, we must leave such profound re-
searches to the investigation of antiquaries and
philologists. Let us only see, with reference
(3) ''I have shewn, in treating of those princes who ruled over the
Titans, that they were the contemporaries of Abrahim, and even of
bit father Terah." Pezron's Antiq. of Nations, p. 185. Land. 1809.
Set also p 83.
(4) rlyavrig ol aglavriQ ti)q yjfc. Isaiah, xiv. 9.
(5) Judith, lib. vi. ver. 0, and 7. vioi Tiravwv.
(6) Pezrons Antiq. of Nations. Pref. p. x?iii. Also B. 1. c. 14.
p. 111. B. II. c. 1. p. 185, kc. Land. 1809.
VOL. VI. G O
450 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, to Tiryns (concerning whose origin any sound
information is as light shining in darkness),
whether there be any thing connected with its
history likely to corroborate Pezroris opinion.
All the writers by whom its builders are men-
tioned, attribute its architecture to the identical
race he has mentioned ; that is to say, to the
Giants, under a different appellation of Cyclops :
and this name was bestowed upon them in
consequence of a custom which any Celtic
helmet would illustrate, namely, that of having
only one aperture for sight, in the middle of
the visor. They came also from the country
whence Pezron deduces his Titan colony ; from
the southern provinces of Phrygia Magna,
Caria, and Lycia1. In the next place occurs a
circumstance of a more decisive nature, cal-
culated to confirm the observations of that
author in a very striking manner ; although by
him unnoticed. It is found in an antient name
of the Inachtis, flowing between Tiryns and Argos.
(1) " Casaubonus, ex Apollodoro, Cyclopas in Lycia invenit, et eoi
in Grsecia regnante Jobates habitasse ait. Jobates Bellerophonti fait
cotevus, qui tertia eetate ante bellum Trojanum extitit. Quo tempore
Tiryns forsan fuit condita. Strabo Kdpac quosdam ad Epidaurum
due it. Caria Lycise proxima est, ergo Cyclopes Lycii cum colonia
Carum forsan TirynfAem advenerunt," Vid. Annot. in Sirabon.Geog.
/tt.viii. p. 540. edm Oxon. 1807.
VIIK
T11TSS. 4$\
This river was called Hauachos, from
person who is mentioned by Plmtarci* as of
Tvyntkian race, bat bearing, in fact, the same
name as the father of Uranus, by whom the
Titan-Celts were conducted into Peloponnesus'.
His name was Acmox ; but SamcAomiatkon, who
wrote, as it is believed, his history of Pfutnice
before the Trojan war, plainly intimates that
this prince was styled, in the language of that
country, Euon (Most-high), answering to the
Greek title inFISTOS, altissimus*. In Phryyia
there was a town called Acmonia* ; and one of
the Cyclops had the name of Acmomdes*. Hence
it should seem evident that the 1\ tan- Celt <z
were of the same race as the Cyclops, who con-
structed the Tirynthian Citadel; and, conse-
quently, that the walls of Tiryns are of Celtic
original.
(J) "lva%0£ rdrafiSs tori rfc 'Apytiac X"PaC* IsaXtlro ti rA
wportgov Kapfiavvp. 'AXiaxfiov & rifyiva TipvvOiog, Iv rtp KoKKvyiy
W0*ftaiv*r Spec* cat Kar ayvouxw rf 'Peat avyyivofuvov rijc Afa 0ia-
mmptvoQ* ippav*i{: eyevcro, Kal fitO* bpptjc Ivcgdiig, SflaXtv iavrop *t'c
worapdv Kapfidvopa, og air* avrov 'AAIAKMQX fartuvofiatrBri.
Phctareh. de Fluviit, pp. 58, 59. Tolosce, 1615.
(9) See Pexron's " Antiquities of Nation*," a 1. c. 0. p. 01. Lond.
1800.
(4) Sancho*. apud Euseb. Prop. Evangel, lib. i. c.10.
(5) Step, Byzantin. Ac mow i a.
(0) Ovid. Fast. IV. t. 288.
G G 2
452 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. We crossed the Inachus at its junction
>^ with the Charadrus, in our road from Tiryns
Argot. to Argos. The distance is about six English
miles. Nothing can exceed the magnificence
of the scenery all around the Gulph ; and
it cannot be necessary to enumerate the inter-
esting recollections that serve to render it still
more impressive. In this ride from Tiryns to
Argos, the prospect is particularly striking:
the antient Capital, even in its state of wretch-
edness, with scarcely a wreck remaining, has
still an appearance which is, in every sense of
the term, imposing. It leads the traveller to
believe that he shall find, upon his arrival, the
most ample traces of its pristine greatness.
This is principally owing to a cause already
assigned ; to the prodigious contribution made
by the geological features of the country, in the
plans of Grecian cities ; where Nature has
herself supplied, upon a most stupendous
scale, what Art would otherwise more humbly
have contrived. In various parts of Greece,
where the labours of man have been swept
away, — where time, barbarians, nay, even
earthquakes, and every other moral and phy-
sical revolution, have done their work, an
eternal city seems still to survive; because the
Acropolis, the Stadium, the Theatre, the Sepul-
TIRYNS TO ARGOS.
453
chres, the Shrines, and the votive receptacles, are chap.
so many " sure and firm-set" rocks ; slightly n^v^
modified, indeed, by the hand of man, but upon
which the blast of desolation passes like the
breath of a zephyr. Argos is conspicuous in
this class of cities : and if, in the approach to it
from Tiryns, where Art seems to have rivalled
Nature in the eternity of her existence, the
view be directed towards the sea, a similar and
not less striking object is presented, in the
everlasting Citadel of Nauplia. The Inachus, TheRiw
separating the two capitals of Acrisius and
Prcetus, is now, as it was formerly, a wide, but
shallow water-course, sometimes entirely dry.
It was dry when we passed. Callimachus men-
tions its beautiful waters1. On account of its
periodical exsiccation, it has been considered by
travellers as having been the subject of a greater
alteration than it has really sustained. Antient
stories, it is true, pretended that it was once
remarkable for suicides, committed by persons
who had precipitated themselves into its flood2:
but these events might happen in an occasional
torrent, as well as in a perennial river3.
(1) See the Hymn of Callimachus upon the Baths of Pallas.
(9) Yid. Plutarch, de Fluviis, pp. 58, 50. Tolosa, 1615.
(9) " Most of the Grecian streams are winter torrents, and dry in
the Minmer." Squire's MS. Correspondence.
454 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. A circumstance related by Agathocles the
\^v^ Milesian, and cited from his writings by
Plutarch1, in his description of the Inachus, may
prove that the state of the river now does not
differ from its antient condition. Agathocles
maintained, that, being thunderstruck by
Jupiter, it became dry in consequence of the
heat9. Strabo's description of it is applicable
to a water-course, rather than to a flowing
river3. Plutarch has stated a few observations
connected with its natural history, which our
time did not enable us to verify. Speaking
pianu and of its plants and minerals, he says, that the herb
Cyura grew in the bed of the river, cele-
brated for its properties in assisting parturi-
tion: it resembled Peganum4 ; and this word
the Latin translator of Plutarch has rendered
by Ruta ; perhaps from the extraordinary
virtues ascribed universally to Rue, which
caused it to receive, at an early period in our
country, the name of " Herb of gracrf" Hue
has been celebrated as an antidote against
(1) Plutarch, de Flu?, ut supr&, p. 60.
(2) Atd iravovpyiav vrb rov &i6q KtpavwQkpra, irjpdv yt*k<r9au
Ibid.
(3) XapatpvStjc icorapSc. Strabon. Geog. lib. viii. p. 537. Ed.
Oxon.
(4) Urjydvtft irpoffo/joto?. Ibid.
(5) " there's Rub for you ; — here's some for me ;— we may call it
Herb of grace o'Sundayt." Shak*jH*rt's Hamlet.
TIRYNS TO ARGOS. 455
poison, pestilence, and the devil ; being used chap
in exorcisms, and extolled and recommended by
almost all medical writers, from Hippocrates to
Boerhaave. But the herb called Peganum by
Theopkrastus and Dioseorides differs from Huta6.
The plant mentioned by Plutarch remains
therefore to be ascertained ; because, as fPvr?i
was the more antient name, particularly in
Peloponnesus7, and tlnyavov the more modern, it
may be supposed that Plutarch would have
bestowed the former appellation upon it, if it had
been applicable. The same author mentions also
the herb Selene, producing a species of foam
(o^P&c), which the peasants collected in the
beginning of summer, and applied to their feet,
as an antidote against the venom of reptiles8.
Its minerals were, the Beryll9, and a stone
called corybas10, of a raven colour, used as a
charm against fearful dreams. The latter was
probably nothing more than the dark fetid
limestone, to which imaginary virtues are still
(6) " As Cblistrus from Euonymus." See Martyris Edit, of
Miller, vol II. Part 1. Lond. 1807.
(7) Ibid. Vol.11. Part 2.
(S) Plutarch, de Fluv. p. 02. Tolas. 1015.
(9) Ibid. p. 60.
(10) Ibid. p. 64.
456 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, ascribed in the East: we found it among the
inn.
most antient amulets in the catacombs of
Saccara in Egypt. With regard to the former,
it is exceedingly difficult at this time to deter-
mine the particular stone called Beryll by the
Antients. We learn from Epiphanius, that it
was of a yellow colour1, and found near Mount
Taurus. But there were other varieties of
Beryll ; one resembling the pupil of a serpent's
eye* ; another like wax> found near the mouth
of the Euphrates'. Hence it is evident that
different minerals bore this name among the
Antients : the first variety may have been our
Topaz; the second and third were, in all
probability, different appearances of Chalcedony.
Theophrastus does not mention the Beryll;
and in Pliny's account of the stone, fifty different
minerals may be included He begins by
placing it among Emeralds*; and the account
he gives of the hexangular shape preserved by the
lapidaries in polishing, seems to prove that it
had the natural form of our Emerald^ care being
(1) Ai0oc BHPYAAION, yXavxifav fttv l<m, k. r. X. EplphaniuM
de xn Gemmis, quae erant in Vote Aarvnis, p. 10. Tigur. 1665.
(9) Tacf jr<$paif t&v 6tp9a\fioJy rov fyajcovrof fort rapa xXjj<tui. Ibid.
(3) "Eari ik jcai d\\tj iraXiv bfioia Ktjptp. Ibid.
(4) Vid. PUn. Hist. Nat. lib. xxzvii. c. 6. p. 5d5. torn. III. X. B*t.
1635.
Vases.
aroos. 457
taken to polish it upon its lateral planes : but chap.
his subsequent remarks, added to his con- ^^^
eluding observations that all Berylls are liable
to capillary blemishes, and to be vitiated by
extraneous substances, brings his Beryll at
once to our Quartz : and this also crystallizes
in the hexagonal form.
We arrived at Argos, and were most hospi- arqos.
Jtably received by the English Baratary5, Mr.
Blasopulo, pronounced Vlas'pulo. He presented
us, upon our arrival, a silver medal of Ptolemy,
and some beautiful terra-cotta vases found in T*m-eoum
sepulchres at a village called Pesopodce, near the
Inachus, situate to the north of Argos. The
-Albanian peasants by whom they were dis-
covered had broken many more ; not choosing
to use vessels that had been taken from graves,
and conceiving them to be of no value. They
were all evidently Grecian, and made in an age
when the Arts were much advanced, if not in
their most splendid sera6. A patera with two
(5) A Baratary is a person who enjoys the protection of some nation
in alliance with the Porte, Mr. BlasopMo was protected by the British
nation.
(6) The annexed Plate exhibits thirteen of the most remarkable
of the terra cottas found here or at Sicyon, or in other parts of the
Petoponnenu.
Fig. 1. is evidently a Patera ; but for what particular use this ressel
was
\
458 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, handles, of the most perfect form and exqaint
VIII.
workmanship, was almost covered with a whit
was designed by the Greeks, is not so conspicuous. Such patents a
sometimes represented in the hands of female Bacchanals ; possih
therefore, it was used for drinking wine : the Turks drink mrbst c
of Teasels of the same form, but without foot or handle. FsrytT,
describing Dido's royal feast, says, " Implevit mero pateram." Afl
the fair Queen had made a libation, she presented the patera to Bit*
who drank the whole of its contents :
" Turn Bitice dedit increpitans : ille impiger hausit
Spumantem pateram.'* —
The blood of victims was received in such vessels ; and it is highly pt
bable that their form was originally derived from the top part of t
human scull, used by all the Celtic tribes in drinking the blood of Um
enemies, and as a drinking vessel. A bumper in Norway is still call
a Skool : and the sorbet cups of the Turks, being without handle* m
feet, have exactly the shape of the upper part of the cranium. Up
the subject of Pater as, Gale, in his " Court of the Gentiles,* h
the following observations : " The Levite having killed the victim
the Priest received the blood in a vessel ; which Moses CJBssod. zzit. <
calls niD^W Aganoth ; and the Chaldee, N^pTTO, that is to say, i
Aspersorie : the Lxx render it Kparrjpag ; so the Vulgate, Cratert
In imitation whereof, the Popa having killed the vie time, the Pri<
received the blood in a vessel ; which vessel the At ticks call vfdyu
Homer (Odyss. y) styles it auviov: the Latin, Patera*. So Vir]
(sEn. I. iii.) * Sanguinis et sacri pat eras ;' which he understands
the vie times, as Servios."
Fig. 2. A Li bator Y Vessel, four inches in height, painted wi
dark stripes upon a yellow ground ; perhaps for containing oil.
hus no orifice above the neck : the only opening is like the spout of
tea-pot, a part being broken off; but the rest is seen between tl
right handle and the neck of the vessel.
Fig. 3. A beautiful double-handed Cup and Cover, curiously painti
red and black upon a yellow ground, four inches high, and five inch
in diameter. It was probably intended for honey, the handles heir
stouter than in the others, and the cover perhaps designed to presen
its contents from flies or other insects.
rf
A R G o s. 459
icrustation, like mortar, as hard as flint, chap.
viii.
ifter placing it for thirty -six hours in diluted
mriatic acid, during all which time the extra-
eous cement dissolved with effervescence,
here appeared upon its surface a beautiful
Fig. 4. A Lamp of red clay ; perhaps one of the vfprcpwv AydX/iara
entioned afterwards in the text. Sometimes the representation of a
iman head is found with a handle and spout, as a drinking vessel,
ce the toys sold in our potteries. The forms of various animals also
cur as lamps and vessels of libation.
Fig. 5. The Greek Pitcher, for milk, or water, 5} inches high
the top of the handle, 4$ inches to the lip.
Fig. 6. A Lachrymal Phial of coarse dark clay, nine iuches in
lgth : we found several of these in Sicyon. This is the most antient
rcn of the Lachrymatory : in latter ages they were smaller, and of
iss. •« Put thou mi tears into thy bottlb." Pt. lvi. 8.
Fig. 7. A Lachrymatory, found upon the site of antient Cromyon,
the same material as the preceding: this is 4 J inches high. It
is white circles upon a dark ground, the common colour of marl.
Fig, 8. Three of this form, beautiful Libatory Vessels, with black
naments on a red ground, were found in Epidauria. The plant
anted upon them is that which architects call Acanthus, and
itiquaries sometimes the Lotus,
Fig. 9. Above twenty vessels of this shape, of different sizes, were
und in Epidauria; the largest not being more than four inches
gh, and about five inches in diameter, of a bright red colour ; somo-
mes almost covered with black varnish, shining like polished jet ;
it of the most delicate workmanship, and nearly as thin as paper.
Fig. 10. A Lamp, of dark, coarse, heavy clay.
Figs. 11, 12. Small vessels, the largest being only one inch in
eight, and two inches in diameter : perhaps designed for the same
»e to which they are still applied by modern nations ; namely, as
lauds for salt.
Ftg. 13. A small Lachrymatory, of red clay.
460 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, black varnish, shining like polished jet, not
in the slightest degree affected by the acid.
Within the lower superficies of the foot of the
vessel, the maker's name was expressed by a
Greek monogram ; proving either that a Grecian
potter was proud to acknowledge this masterly
piece of workmanship, or that it was usual to
inscribe the names of places celebrated in the
manufacture of earthenware ; and in this case,
the monogram may be intended for MErAPEQN.
It consisted of the letters ME, which had been
inscribed with the point of a sharp instrument,
and written in this manner :
A^
There were other pateras of the same manu-
facture, but not entire: also a number of
lachrymatories, and libatory vessels, adorned with
monochromatic painting; cups resembling our
sugar-basons, with covers variously decorated
by yellow, red, and black colours ; singularly
formed lamps, some representing human figures;
smaller cups, and, however minute in their
size, each of these had its double handle.
The Baratary shewed to us a very remarkable
intaglio, because although antient, it had been
cut in glass of a green colour ; the only instance
of the kind we had ever seeu.
arg os. 461
We requested that our host would in future chap.
. VIII*
spare no pains to collect all the terra cottas >^-/-w
found in the neighbourhood ; promising him
that we would find purchasers for them in
England, and patrons who would amply repay
him for all his expense and trouble, as soon as
he should give us information that he had suc-
ceeded in his researches. He said he would
gladly undertake the work, if it were only to
afford a proof of his gratitude for the protection
he enjoyed from the British nation : but we
received no intelligence from him afterwards.
It is a most extraordinary fact, that, in all the ignorance
elaborate treatises we possess concerning the^JJ*^
funerals of the Antients, no satisfactory cause
has been assigned for the quantity of earthen
vases found in Grecian sepulchres. In the View
of Charon9 s Ferry, engraved as a Vignette for a
former Chapter, the Cymba sutilis, fashioned like
a Welch Coracle, or rather an American canoe1,
is freighted, besides passengers, with empty
Amphora: but these are not the sort of vases
found within any of the tombs ; although some-
times, as symbols of departed souls, they were
use.
(1) Herodotus {lib. i.) mentions the boats made of skins. The
Scholiast to Apollonius Rhodiusy (lib. ii. v. 108) describes them as
unifertally in use.
462 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, placed upon the outsides of the immediate
viii
v^\rw receptacles for the body1. The vases within the
graves are of a much finer quality ; and some-
times contain little gilded representations of herb*
and fruit. There is a passage in the Dialogues
of Lucian, where Menippus is asked by Cham
what he carries in his satchel ; and he answers*,
Hecate's " Lupins, so please you ! and Hecate s supper?
Supper*
This raillery seems to be levelled against a
practice among his countrymen, of providing
the sepulchres of deceased persons with the pro-
visions which are now found within them, rather
than as an allusion to the monthly offerings
made at the expense of the wealthy, when a
public (&cirvov) supper was provided for the poor1.
Hecate's supper9 we may suppose, would be
regulated by the rank and wealth of the de-
ceased4; lupins being considered as the mean
and miserable diet of the lowest persons ; and
hereby is explained the reason why sometimes
a single vase is found, of the poorest quality;
(1) See p. 282 of this Volume.
(2) Qkppovc, it 0c\ci£, Kat rtJQ 'Ecdrqc ro Sii-xvov. Luciani Distofr
Mort. Charon, Menippwt, et Hermr*.
(3) See Potter on the 'EKATHZIA. Archaologia Greeea, vol. I-P-
386. Lond. 1751.
(4) Or by the age; for of this we hare curious testimony, in the
following answer of Apollo, when interceding for the life of Alctstit:
Kfv ypavg, o\tjrai xXovffiuQ rafrjfffrai.
mum.
A R G O S. 463
and why, in certain instances, the number has chap.
been increased to forty, of the most costly ^yO
workmanship, containing representations of fruit
and herbs. It should be observed, that Lecti- Lectiater-
iternium, or the custom of giving a supper in a
temple to the Gods, may have originated in the
funeral feast at tombs, from what has been
already said of the origin of temples?* This
practice of feasting at funerals has existed frotn
the days of Homer6; and still exists among
the descendants of the antient Celts, both in
Ireland and Scotland ; and it was once common
in England?. An author has indeed observed,
that Lectisternium began about a. u. c. 356";
that is to say, it was then adopted by the
Romans; but it was a much older ceremony in
Greece : and the occasion of its introduction
among the Romans shews that it was connected
(5) See Vol. II. of these Trav. Ch. II. p. 75. Octaro Edition.
(6) —A ot iraTipa k\vtop ticra,
*Hroe 6 Ttjg xnivag Saivv rafov 'Apytioiffiv
Mnrpog rt arvyepfjc xai AvaXicitog AiyiaBoio.
Horn. Odyss. lib. iii.
(7) u the funeral baked meats
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables."
Shakspeares Hamlet, Act I. sc. 2.
(8) O. Walker on Coins and Medals, ch. vi. p. 89. Land. 1697.
464 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, with offerings for the dead1, as it was during a
viii. . .
s**^ solemn supplication for deliverance from the
fauMof6 plague- We do not know precisely the nature
B^t^n9 °^ ^e °^eT'mS that was placed within these
£**"/**" earthen vases, in Grecian tombs : the cake of
flour and honey (jiAitovto) was put into the
mouth of the deceased, together with a piece of
money (Savaictj) as Charon's fare, and not into
any vessel by the side of the corpse : but there
were other offerings, rarely noticed by any
writer, of which these vessels may be examples;
namely, the k6<t[ioi that were carried to the
grave in honour of the funeral. We have before
stated, that the sepulchral terra-cottas have some-
times the form of images. Every person who
attended the ceremony of a Grecian funeral
brought a complimentary token (rbv koct/xov) of
his respect for the deceased ; such as Admetus,
in JEuripides*, denied his father the liberty to give
to his wife, which all the rest of the company
had previously presented. The nature of the
Koafxoi has never been explained ; any more
than of the vepripw a-yaX/uara5, said to be carried
(1 ) "They joined themselves unto Baal-Peor, and ate the sacrifice*
of the dead." Psalms, cvi. 28.
(2) Kocr/iov ck rbv £6v ovwo$' tj & tvtvatrai. Euripid. in Ale. t.630»
(3) Ibid. v. 612.
ARGOS, 405
by those who followed the corpse ; by some chap.
translated imagines; by others, grata munera. w^-'
Prom the light thrown upon the subject by a
new of the sepulchres themselves, there is every
*eason to believe that these beautiful vases, with
ill the lamps, lachrymatories, and earthen vessels,
bund in Grecian tombs, many of them being
righly ornamented, were the gifts alluded to by
Euripides, either to the dead, or to the Gods of
he dead. Hence, perhaps, we arrive at the
neaningof the Inscription mentioned in the sixth
Chapter of this volume, as found upon an Athenian
amp, — " Socrates, accept this animal /" Pure
slay was an offering to the Gods4. Another
curious subject of inquiry suggested by these
melic$y is this : Whence originated the custom ? Origin
It is undoubtedly of much earlier date than custom.
my thing purely Grecian. In the most antient
lepulchres of the Celts, in all parts of Europe,
sarthen vessels are also found of the simplest
form and rudest workmanship, apparently
possessing a degree of antiquity far beyond the
age denoted by any of the Grecian terra-cottas.
Pads an ias mentions a terra-cotta Soros that was
dog up at Argos, supposed to have been that
(4) Sec Greek Marbles, p. 70. Camb. 1809.
VOL, VI. H H
466 PELOPONNESUS.
Cv\AiP" wherein Ariadne had been buried ; thereby de-
monstrating its great antiquity1. Such vessels are
also found in the Tumuli or Mounds of Tahtary,
and in North America ; their situation, construe —
tion, form, and contents, being so similar, thafc^
there can be no hesitation in ascribing thei^sr
origin to the same people*. The suppose^S
tomb of Theseus, opened by Oman son of MUtiada^^
in the Isle of Scyros, from the description
of the weapons found within it, appears
have been one of these aboriginal sepulchres.
De Stehlin, who was Secretary to the ImperiaJ
Academy at Petersburg, declared that there
is not one instance of such a tumulus being
found to the northward of the fifty-eighth degree
of north latitude3. This perhaps is doubtful A
full account of those monuments ought to con-
stitute an independent work ; and whenever the
subject is properly treated, the observations it
is calculated to introduce will illustrate a part
of history hitherto entirely unknown.
We employed the whole of this day in
(1) Ktoapiav aopov. Poms. Corinth, c. 83. p. 164. ed. Kuhnii.
(S) See Harris's Tour into the Territory North-west of the AUeoh**9
Mountain*, p. 175. Boston, 1805.
(3) See Harris's Tour, p. 171. Boston, 1805.
ARGOS. 467
examining the Town and its Ruins. Argos is a chap.
arge straggling place, full of cottages, with
ew good houses. As we have before alluded
o Celtic remains in this part of Peloponnesus, it
lay be proper to mention, that the roofs here
re not flat, as in almost all parts of the East,
at slope like those of Northern nations. The
ime style of building may be observed in
ithenSy and in other parts of Greece : whether
itroduced by Albanian workmen, or owhig to
osteins which antiently existed in the country,
e have not been able to learn. The women
ere busied in collecting their cotton from
le fields; and at this season of the year all
ie marriages take place. The present po- Popuia.
ulation consists of six thousand, including
males and children4. There is a school kept
y a Greek priest. Being desirous to know
hat the children were taught, we visited the
taster, who seemed pleased by our inquiries,
s if he had bestowed pains upon his scholars.
Ie said they were instructed in writing, arith*
letic, astronomy, physic, and rhetoric. About
>rty years before, it had been customary for
(4) u Not four thousand," according to Sir W. QeU ; (Itin. of
Preect, p. 09.) perhaps not including children and women.
hh2
468 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, the principal families of Nauplia and Argot io
/send their children to Athens for instruction.
The Consul at Nauplia had been there educated:
it was in giving us an account of his journeys
to Athens that we first heard any mention made
of the Statue of Ceres, at Eleusts ; for this bad
excited his curiosity when a boy, and was
regularly visited by him in his way to and from
Athens. The houses in Argos are built with a
degree of regularity, and fitted up with some
comforts uncommon in this part of the world,
although in other respects they are wretched
hovels. They are all ranged in right lines, or
in parallel lines: and each house, consisting of a
single story, has an oven ; so that here even the
Albanians do not bake their unleavened cakes
upon the hearth, as it is usual elsewhere in
their cottages. From Argos, the distance to
Mantinea is only eight hours ; and it is but a
day's journey to Tripolizza, the Capital of the
Morea. When we heard this, and the pressing
invitation of our Baratary to visit with him a
part of Arcadia, whose mountains are actually
visible from the Citadel, and also to extend our
journey to Misitra, we gladly ordered horses for
the expedition; but a powerful antidote to
enterprise, the mal-aria fever, returning amongst
us, with its most violent paroxysms, during the
ARGOS. 469
ht, had so considerably reduced our stock of c"iiP"
rgies before the morning, that with deep
ret we were compelled to abandon the design
»eing Mantinea, Megalopolis, and Sparta, and
dhere to our original plan. How few are
travellers who have seen the interior of the
tea ! and in that small number, where may
look for one who has given any intelligence
; may be called information, respecting the
ns of the cities which the country is known
ontain1 ? Perhaps the time is at hand when
shall know more of a region as easily to be
i Tet ! there is one traveller, whose qualifications for this purpose
rell known, and have been already noticed in this Work; bat
»uld never be prevailed upon to estimate the value of bis own
rations high enough to induce him to publish them. This tra-
is John Hawkins, Af.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge: and as
hing cuming from one who has the satisfaction to rank among
riends, may be imputed to partiality, an Extract from the
Letter of Colonel Squire to his Brother may here be considered
priate. " With Greece** {says Col. Squire) " our most learned
its have but a small acquaintance : few travellers have published
observations ; many events in history have been misunderstood ;
translators and commentators have beeu entirely bewildered,
; to their ignorance of its topography. The writers, to whom
ifer at our best authorities, are trifling, inaccurate, and super-
There is, however, a Gentleman in England, Mr. Hawkins,
ier of Sir Christopher Hawkins, a mon of shrewd sagacity, erudi-
and indefatigable exertion, who has explored every part of the
ry, and now possesses very ample means to reuder a signal service
e publication of the muterials he has collected."
Colonel Squire's MS. Correspondence,
470 PELOPONNESUS.
crap, visited as the County of Derbyshire, and Where
%^>r^ the traveller is not exposed to half the dangers
encountered every night in the neighbourhood
of London. Groundless apprehensions, calcu-
lated only to alarm children, concerning ima-
ginary banditti, and the savage nature of its
inhabitants, have been hitherto powerful enough
to prevent travellers from exploring its interior:
but these are beginning to vanish : and we may
hope that many years will not elapse before the
shepherds of Arcadia and Laconia, of Meuema
and JSKs, will have become as good guides to
the antiquities of their mountains and valleys,
as the natives of Puzzoli now are to the Ruins of
Bake.
A^uqni- jYie antiquities of Argos, once so numerous1,
may now be comprised within a very short list.
A brief summary of them as they existed in the
second century, omitting the catalogue of statues
and altars, may be useful for future travellers •
we shall therefore introduce it, followed by *
description of the principal remains, as we
found them ; for these are not likely to be much
(]) See the long list of them in the Second Book of Fau*aM&
chapters IS, 19.20, 21,22, 23 , 24, from p. 149. to p. 167, of the edit**
by Kuhnius. Lips. 1606.
ARGOS. 47 1
affected by any lapse of time. It is useless to chap.
refer to Strabo upon this occasion, because be
was not upon the spot j but Pausanias9 as
o&rtfmic, coming from My cents to Argos, before
he arrives at the Inachus, mentions the Hieron
of Ceres Mysias ; containing one of those curious
temples of which we discovered some remains
in Epidauria ; (Na&c 6x1% irXtvdov) not merely a
temple roofed with baked tiles (for it stood within
another building originally itself roofed, although
in ruins when Pausanias saw it), but actually
a terra-cotta temple. The fragments of this
building may yet be discerned ; although we
could find no part of it so entire as the beau-
tiful terra-cotta cornice and frieze we had been
so fortunate as to discover in Epidauria. Thence
entering Argosy by the Gate of Lucina, the same
author notices in the lower city, as the most
conspicuous1 of all the temples, that of Apollo
Lycias. Afterwards, it is difficult to enumerate
all the other temples mentioned by him, because
we do not distinctly know what he intends by
the word 'hpov, as distinguished from Naoc.
Thus, for example, he mentions the most antient
(2) 'BTi+avkerarov lib. ii. c 19. p. 152. ed. Kuhnii.
472 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. Temple1 of Fortune, and the Hieron of the
VIII.
Hours*. We have proved already that Hieron
does not necessarily signify a Temple, nor even
a building : any thing containing what was sacred
received this appellation ; a Cave ; a Grove ; a
portable Shrine ; and perhaps a Clepsydra. There
were, however, many Temples in Argos. There
were also Sepulchres and Canotaphs ; a Theatre ;
a Forum ; a Mound of Earth*, believed to be the
Tomb of the head of the Gorgon Medusa; a
Gymnasium ; and a subterraneous edifice. After
this, beginning his ascent towards the Acropolis,
Pausanias notices the Hieron of Juno Acraa, and
a Temple of Apollo, situate upon a ridge called
Diras*. Here was an Oracle, where answers
were given so lately as the time when Pausanias
saw the temple. Close to this temple there
was also a Stadium5; and this circumstance is
enough to prove that by ' Diras' Pausanias does
not mean the summit of the hill ; for after
leaving the Stadium, he continues his ascent by
( 1 ) TvxflQ Ivtiv Ik TraXatordrev N A02. Ibid. e. 20. p. 1 64.
(2),Qpuiv,IEP0Ni(Triv. Ibid. p. 155.
(3)Xwpa yrjc laTiv, ix> H avrif KtlaOai rt)v MtSovcrtjc \i yovai rijc
VopyovocKKpaXrjv. Ibid. p. 159.
(4)"Ort Kai 6 tottoq ovtoq caXeirat AEIPA2. Ibid. c. 24. p. 105.
(5) Ibid.
A R G o s. 473
the monument of the sons of JEyyptas, on the left- chap.
hand side of his road, until he arrives (hf aicp?)
upon the summit called Larissa, where he finds
the temples of Jupiter Larisscsus aud of Minerva.
And in the subsequent part of his description,
speaking of the roads from Argos to Mantin&a*,
and to Lyrcea1, he says they began from the gates
near Diras ; consequently the Oracular Temple
most have been lower than the summit, although
upon the hill of the Acropolis. With so much
information, and some of the monuments yet
remaining in Argos, it would not be difficult for
a traveller, having leisure and opportunity, to
complete the plan of the antient city. This our
time would not permit ; but we ascertained
some of the antiquities : and first the Theatre, AnUqui-
upon the south-eastern side of the hill of the
Acropolis ; one of the principal objects no-
ticed by Pausanias upon entering the city.
Some of the sepulchres also may be ob-
served.
The Theatre is a very remarkable structure. Theatre.
As usual, it is entirely an excavation of the
(6) Pausan. Corinth, c. 25. p. 107.
(7) Ibid.
474 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, rock ; but it differs from every other theatre we
VI IL . •
saw in Greece, in having two wings, with seats,
one on either side of the Cavea ; so that it might
be described as a triple Cation. We could not
conceive for what purpose these side cavities
were designed ; unless for minor representa-
tions, or as steps in ascending to the central
sweep : but if the latter were intended, there
would have been no necessity for the curved
shape that has been given to them ; making the
whole structure wear the appearance rather of
three theatres than of one. Within the centre
Cavea there were sixty-four seats remaining;
the height of each seat being thirteen inches.
Opposite to this structure are the remains of a
very large edifice, built entirely of tiles ; pro-
bably a part of the Castellum (x*>pfov) which was
near to the Theatre, called Criterion, once a
court or tribunal of judgment Above the
Venu*. Theatre1 was the Hieron of Venus ; and this we
certainly found. Within this temple there was
(1) The expression l*,vxlp il rb Biarpov : and this by Amounts (md.
Pout. Cor. e. 20. p. 166. ed. Kuhnii) is render supra theatntm ; bat
virlp, in many instances, is by Pausanias used to signify beyond ; that
is to say, the next object occurring in the line of his observation. In
this instance, the building alluded to was above the Theatre, upon the
hill towards the Acropolis.
A R G o s. 475
a statue of the Poetess Telesilla, the Manublla chap.
vin.
Sancho of her day ; who, like the modern
of Saragossa at the head of a band of
female warriors, repelled from the walls of the
city the enemies of her country, when the
Lacedemonians attacked Argos. " She was re-
presented/' says Pausanias*, " standing upon a
pillar, with the books of her poetry scattered
at her feet, in the act of regarding a helmet
which she was about to put upon her head."
And when the Spanish Telesilla* who has so
nobly followed the example offered by her
Grecian predecessor, shall have a monument
consecrated to the memory of her illustrious
achievements, her countrymen may find in this
description a classical model for its design. The
site of the Hieron is now occupied by a Greek
chapel, but it contains the remains of columns
whose capitals are of the most ancient Corinthian
order ; a style of building unknown in our
country, scarcely a model of it having ever
been seen in England; although it far exceeds
in beauty and simplicity the gaudy and crowded
foliage of the later Corinthian. The temples of
Venus being generally of the Corinthian order,
(2) Vid. Paus. in Corinth, c 20. pp. 156, 167. ed.
476 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, we have reason to believe that the Hieron, in
VIII
i j this instance, was one of them ; and we have
therefore, in this chapel, another point of
observation, as a beacon, in ascertaining the
antiquities enumerated by Pausanias. We ob-
served this building in our way down from the
Citadel towards the sea; therefore it will be
better to describe the objects first noticed in our
ascent from the modern town.
Going up to the fortress, we saw towards our
left j that is to say, upon the north-eastern side of
mra*' the hill of the Acropolis, the ridge called Diras by
Pausanias, where the Temple of Apollo Diradiotes
was situate. A monastery now occupies the site of
the temple, standing upon a high rock, with pre-
cipices above and below. It is said to contain a
cavern, well suited to the contrivance necessary
for the oracles1 delivered here in the time of that
author. Afterwards, as we proceeded, we saw
the remains of antient works also upon our left ;
and it was upon his left hand in ascending to
the Acropolis that Pausanias observed a monu-
(1) See Qell'i Itin. of Greece, p. 67. Sir W. Gell says, there is here
also space enough for a Stadium ; and this agrees with the description
of Pausanias, who says, the Stadium adjoined the Temple of Apollo*
ARG08. 477
ment of the sons of JEgyptus*. The way up en a p.
a mountain is little liable to alteration ; and \ ^—>
probably the track we pursued was nearly, if
not entirely, the same that was trodden by
him. The fortress itself is evidently a modern
building ; its walls contain fragments of anti-
quities, used as materials in building them3; but
on the sides and lower part of it we observed
the remains of Cyclopian architecture, as antient Cyclopia.
as the Citadel of Tiryns, and built in the same
style. This structure is mentioned by Pau-
sanias, in his seventh book ; where he states that
the inhabitants of My cents were unable to de-
molish the wall of the Ar gives, built, like that
of Tiryns, by the Cyclops4. The Cyclopian walls
and towers of Argos are also noticed by Euripides,
Polybius, and Seneca. Hence we had a glorious
view of almost all Argolis, and great part of
the Arcadian territory, even to the mountains of
Laconia, visible from this eminence5. Placed
(2) 'Eg ik rrjv drpoxoXtv lovniv loriv Iv aptortpf ttiq otov r&v
Aiyvwrov xaitvvKal ravry fivrjfia. Pausan, in Corinth, c. 24. p. 165.
ad. Kuhnii.
(3) Sir W. Gell found here a very antient Inscription; and says that
ViBoison intimates the existence of a ?ery curious one at Argos. See
Itin. of Greece, p. 68. Land, 1810.
(4) Pausan. in Corinth, lib. rii. c £5. p. 689. ed. Kuhnii.
(5) See this prospect as engraved from a most accurate drawing
made upon the spot by Sir W. Oell. ltin, of Greece, Plate six. p. 68.
land. 1810.
478 PELOPONNB8U8.
chap, centrally with regard to the Sinus ArgoUcusy the
v y * eye surveys the Laooman and Argotic Promon-
tories ; and looks down upon Nauplia, Tiryns,
and all the south-western side of the gulph9
almost with the same facility as it regards the
^jfoman streets of Argos. We saw the Alcyonian Lake
in the last direction, now a weedy pool1: the
natives of Argos relate of it, as did Pausamas*,
that nothing swims upon its waters. On this
side of the Gulph we saw also the Plain of
Lerna, once fabled to be infested with the
Hydra; and, in the same direction, the road
leading to Tripolizza, until it lost itself in the
mountains ; following with our eyes great part
of a journey we were desirous to accomplish
more effectually.
Hence we descended towards the sea; and
(1) There cannot, however, be much alteration in this piece of
water since the time of Pausanias ; who describes it as a pooi, mea-
suring in diameter only one third of a stadium (about seventy-tkrt*
yards), and lying amongst grass and bulrushes. (VitL Paustnu in
Corinth, c 87. p. 200. erf. Kuhnii.) As to its prodigious depth, it
would be curious to ascertain what foundation there was for the
account given of its fathomless nature, by the same author; who
relates that Nero could not reach the bottom with lead fastened to ropes
many stadia hi length.
(8) The account given of it by Pausanias is, that it draw* persons
to the bottom who venture to swim upon its surface. The tame sort
of story is often related, by the common people In this coontry, of
any deep water.
ARGOS. 4>79
came to the remains of the Temple of Venus cJJnP"
before mentioned, above the Theatre, where the ^ — '
Greek chapel is situate3. We were unable to
discover any remains of the Stadium ; but this
in all probability, will not elude the researches
of other travellers. After again visiting the
Theatre, we found, at the foot of the hill of the
Acropolis, one of the most curious tell-tale
remains yet discovered among the vestiges of
Pagan priestcraft : it was nothing less than one
of the Oracular Shrines of Argos alluded to by oracular
. . Shrine.
Pausanias, laid open to inspection, like the toy a
child has broken in order that he may see the con-
trivance whereby it was made to speak. A more
interesting sight for modern curiosity can hardly
be conceived to exist among the ruins of any
Grecian city. In its original state it had been a
temple; the farther part from the entrance, where
the altar was, being an excavation of the rock
and the front and roof constructed with baked
tiles. The altar yet remains, and part of the
fictile superstructure : but the most remarkable
(3J Sir W. Gell afterwards found here a broken Inscription,
- evidently," he says " relating to Venus." It were to be wlibed,
although a fragment, that he had prefer? ed and published it ; as an
imseriptum so decidedly identifying one of the beacons mentioned by
Pernr-fr" would materially tend to facilitate future researches upon
the spoc— See QeWs Itin. of Greece, p. 64. Lond. 1810.
480 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, part of the whole is a secret subterraneous
passage, terminating behind the altar ; its
entrance being at a considerable distance
towards the right of a person facing the altar;
and so cunningly contrived as to have a small
aperture, easily concealed, and level with the
surface of the rock. This was barely large
enough to admit the entrance of a single person;
who having descended into the narrow passage,
might jcreep along until he arrived immediately
behind the centre of the altar; where, being
hid by some colossal statue or other screen, the
sound of his voice would produce a most
imposing effect among the humble votaries
prostrate beneath, who were listening in silence
upon the floor of the sanctuary. We amused
ourselves for a few minutes, by endeavouring to
mimic the sort of solemn force acted upon these
occasions : and as we delivered a mock oracle,
ore rotundo, from the cavernous throne of the
altar, a reverberation, caused by the sides of
the rock, afforded a tolerable specimen of the
" will of the Gods," as it was formerly made
known to the credulous votaries of this now-
forgotten shrine. There were not fewer than
twenty-flve of these juggling places in Pelopon-
nesus, and as many in the single province of
Bceotia : and surely it will never again become a
ARGOS. 481
question among learned men, whether the chap.
answers in them were given by the inspiration ^v^#
of evil spirits, or whether they proceeded from
the imposture of priests: neither can it again
be urged that it ceased at the birth of Christ i
because Pausanias bears testimony to their
existence at Argos in the second century1. Per-
haps it was to the particular shrine now de-
scribed that his evidence refers : its position,
however, does not exactly warrant this opinion ;
for the oracle he mentions corresponded rather
with the situation of the monastery upon a
ridge of the hill of the Acropolis. In this situa-
tion he places other shrines ; namely, the Hieron
of Jupiter Saviour, together with a cell (otrni/no)
or abiding place where the Argive women were
wont to mourn the death of Adonis2 : and as not
only Heathen deities, but also heroes, were ren-
dered subservient to these purposes of priest*
craft, the worship of Adonis might have con-
tributed to swell the list of temples where
oracles were delivered. Near to the same spot other Re-
. mains of
we sa w the remains of an Aqueduct: and to this the city
(1) MavTtirirtu yap In Kai ic >}***£• Vld. Pausan. in Corinth, c. 24.
p. 165. ed. Kuhnii.
(9) Kai Ai<$£ lariv IvravBa Upbv adtrijpoQ. cat vaptovciv ct'c t6
tfrypa, ivraw$a rbv "A&tfvty at yvvaUuQ 'kpyiiuv dtivpovrai* Ibid,
c 90. p. 156.
VOL. VI. I I
VIII.
482 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, there seems also an allusion by Pausanias, in the
obscure account he gives of a channel con-
ducting the water of the Cephissus beneath a
temple dedicated to that river1. But there are
other appearances of subterraneous structures
requiring considerable attention ; some of these
are upon the hill: they are covered, like the
Cyclopian gallery of Tiryns, with large approach-
ing stones, meeting so as to form an arched
way which is only visible where these stones
are open8. Among them the traveller may look
for the subterraneous edifice with the brazen
Thalamus constructed by Acrisius for his daugh-
ter3. There is also a large church at the southern
extremity of the town, containing fragments of
Ionic columns and inscriptions4. One of the
mosques is said to have been erected with
blocks brought from the Grove of JEsculapius, in
Epidauria5 : the same circumstance was also
alluded to by Chandler*. Perhaps the time
may arrive when a more enlightened people than
(1) Pausan. in Corinth, c. 20. p. 166. ed. KuhniL
(2) GelVs I tin. of Greece, p. 66. Lond. 1810.
(3) Pausan. at supra, c. 23. p. 164.
(4) GelVs Itin. of Greece, p. 69.
(5) Ibid.
(6) See Chandler's Trar. io Greece, p. 226. Oqf. 1776. Alto the
preceding Chapter of this Volnme.
aroos. 483
the Turks will again bring to light the valuable chap.
antiquities there concealed ; although the ac- v^v^
quisition should be obtained even at so great
an expense as that of taking down and rebuild-
ing a Moslem place of worship.
We have now concluded our very cursory Character
survey of Argas : but we shall not quit the relics Antient
of this memorable city, without briefly noticing rfn°e§'
a circumstance in its history, to which little
attention seems to have been paid by the com-
pilers of Grecian annals ; namely, its illustrious
character, as founded on the noble examples
offered in the actions of its citizens. If Athens,
by arts, by military talents, and by costly
solemnities, became "one of the Eyes of
Greece/' there was in the humanity of Argos,
and in the good feeling frequently displayed by
its inhabitants, a distinction which comes nearer
to the heart. Something characteristic of the
people may be observed even in a name given
to one of their Divinities ; for they worshipped
a u God of Meekness1.99 It may be said,
perhaps, of the Argive character, that it was
less splendid than the Athenian, and less rigid
(7) The Argive* gave to one of their Gods the name, MuAtxtov Aide,
of the Meek God, or Mild Jupiter. Vid. Pausan. iii Cor. c. 20. p. 154.
i i2
484 PELOPONNE9US.
chap, than the Lacedamonian, but it was also less
artificial : and the contrast it exhibited, when
opposed to the infamous profligacy of Corinth,
where the manners of the people, corrupted
by wealth and luxury, were further vitiated
by the great influx of foreigners1, rendered
Argas, in the days of her prosperity, one of the
most enviable cities of Greece. The stranger
who visited Athens might indeed regard with
an eager curiosity the innumerable trophies
everywhere suspended, of victors in her splen-
did games ; might admire her extensive por-
ticoes, crowded with philosophers ; might gaze
with wonder at the productions of her artists ;
might revere her magnificent temples ; — but
feelings more affecting were called forth in be-
holding the numerous monuments of the Argives,
destined to perpetuate the memory of indi-
viduals who had rendered themselves illustrious
only by their virtues2.
(1) " Ex hac peregrinorum homiuum collurie, necesse erat et ciriam
mores corrampi. Quapropter Laceds&mouli, quorum graris et seven
semper fuit Resp. nollos ad se peregrinos recipiebant, ne alienigenit
ritibufl urbis optime constitutes status eTerteretar." Gtrbtlius in
Corinth, Descript. ap. Gronov. The$. Gr<Bc. Antiq. torn, IV. p. 51.
L. Bat. 1699.
(2) Witness the filial piety of Cleobis and Biton, to whom the Argivet
also erected statues at Delphi; the heroism of TeletUla, in reacting
the
AROOS TO MTCENJE. 485
On Tuesday morning, November the tenth, we chap.
took leave of the hospitable Baratary, fraught \^v^
with a rich cargo of Grecian pottery ; and set out
for Mycence, the city of Agamemnon, anticipating
a treat among those Ruins, for which Lusieri had
already prepared us. We entered the spacious
Plain of Argos, level as the still surface of view of
the Argiv
a calm sea, and extending in one rich field, Plain,
with the most fertile soil, from the mouths of
the Inachus towards the north. Having again
crossed the dry channel of the XAPAAPOAHS
nOTAMOS, and looking back towards the
Larissean Citadel, the lofty conical hill of the
Acropolis appeared rising in the midst of this
plain, as if purposely contrived to afford a bul-
wark for dominion, and for the possession of
this valuable land ; which, like a vast garden,
is walled in by mountains3. Such was the
the city fiom its enemies; the conduct of another A r give woman, who
faved her sou's life by slaying Pyrrkus ; Sec. &c. " Hoc urbs plurimis
exempli* ad virtutem not excitantibut abundtvit." GerbeLzp Gronov.
fee. p. 52. Yet these rewards, of statues and trophies erected as
public records of private virtues, according to a recent discovery in
moral philosophy {See Quarterly Beview.No. 33. p. 187. Augvst,1$W)
afford " an inference, that these virtues were of rare occurrence in
the cities where such numerous testimonies were commemorated ! ! !"
(3) See Vol. III. of the Octavo Edition of these Travels, Chap. IV.
p. 07, on the allurements offered to the early settlers in Greece by the
appearance of the country.
486 PELOPONNESUS
chap, inviting aspect exhibited by the Argwe terri-
vm.
tory to the earliest settlers in this country. No
labour was necessary, as amidst the forests and
unbroken soil of the North of Europe and of
America : the colonies, upon their arrival, found
an open field, with a rich impalpable soil, already
prepared by Providence to yield an abundant
harvest to the first adventurer who should scatter
seed upon its surface. We cannot therefore
wonder, that within a district not containing
more square miles than the most considerable
of our English parishes, there should have
been established, in the earliest periods of its
history, four capital cities, Argos, Mycence, Ttryns,
and Nauplia, each contending with the other for
superiority ; or that every roaming colony who
chanced to explore the Argolic Gulph endea-
voured to fortify a position upon some rock
near to the plain, and struggle for its posses-
sion. This is all that seems necessary to
illustrate the first dawnings of government, not
only within this district, but in every part of
the Hellenian territories : and the fables trans-
mitted from one generation to another, con-
Fabulous cerning the contest between Neptune and
between Juno for the country, as between Neptune and
nod Juno. Minerva for Attica9 may be regarded as so
many records of those physical revolutions, in
AROOS TO MYCBNjE.
487
preceding ages, which gave birth to these fertile chap.
regions; when the waters of the sea slowly
retired from the land ; or, according to the lan-
guage of poetry and fable, were said to have
reluctantly abandoned the plains of Greece1.
About five miles from Argos, on the left side
of the road, we found the remains of an antient
structure, which at first we supposed to be
those of the Herceum, a temple once common
to the two cities of Mycenae and Argos ; when
the twin brothers, Acrisius and Prcetus, who
were grandsons of Beltis, possessed the two
capitals, and worshipped the same tutelary
Deity*. This position of it corresponds, in
some degree, with its situation, according to
Pausamas ; but not in all respects. He de-
scribes the distance from Mycence to Argos as
equal to fifty stadia (6£ miles), and the Heraeum
as being at the distance of fifteen stadia (one
(1) By attention to natural phenomena upon the spot, some light
may certainly be thrown upon the antient fables of the country. A
▼cry happy illustration of the origin of the Hydra, which infested the
Flam of Lima, near Argot, as taken from the MS. Journal of the
Barl of Aberdeen, by Sir IF. Gell, and is found in a Note to his Work.
See Itin. of Greece, p. 79. Lond. 1810.
(9) CaJ rb 'Hpaltfv tlvai Koivbv itpov rb irpbgralc Mt/rjr/vatf d/ifoiv,
*. r. X. Strabon. Geog. lib. ? iii. p. 539. Ed. Oxon.
488 PSI,0?ONNESV9,
chap, mile and seven furlongs) from that city. But
WvV he places it to the left1 of the city, and upon
the lower par? of a mountain near a flowing stream
called Eleutherxon. The last observations do
not permit us to consider the remains of this
structure as being any part of the Herceum ; as
they are situate in the plain, and not close to
any rivulet or water-course. But near to this
Structure there was another Ruin, whose
foundations more resembled the oblong form
of a temple'- it was built with baked bricks,
and originally lined with marble. Here,
then, there seems every reason to believe we
otceres discovered the remains of the whole Hieron
Mytias. Qf (foes Mysias, noticed by Pausanias in his
road from Mycence to Argos, by a description
very applicable to these Ruins. He says3 the
building had no roof, but contained within it
another temple of brick-work ; and that the
traveller going thence towards Argos, arrived
at the river Inachus. In the different facts the
Reader may have collected from this and the
preceding Chapter concerning the remains of
(1) Vid. Pausan. iu Corinth, c. 17. p. 147. Ed. KuhniL
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid.
ARGOS TO XYCBK-1S. 4Stf
antient art in Argolis, he will have porwivtnl K*\)?
the very general prevalence of terra wtta in *•*■
works of much higher antiquity than it is usual
to suppose were constructed of thin material.
A vulgar notion has prevailed, that this style
of building was for the most part Roman.
When tiles or bricks have been found in the
walls and foundations of edifices, among the
ruins of Eastern cities, it has been uhiiuI hi
attribute to the structure a Roman origin ; and,
consequently, to consider works of this kind us
of a date posterior to the decline of the Eastern
Empires. That this mode of ascertaining tin:
age of buildings is liable to error, may perhaps
now be evident. The statement of a single
fact, if other satisfactory evidence could not be
adduced, would be sufficient to prove the anti-
quity of such works ; for example, that of the
tilt or brick*, whereby the wull of Ryrrhu* wan
fractured, when he attempted to take the eity of
Argos by storm. Indeed, in tome i/jfctarj<;e»,
the Raman*, finding ziA:*fh\ h\r<j';\vr<;>, \n (irwA
had gone to decay beotvw; tf-ey »!;•* *^Jt *jth
baked or crude tilt* *&<i Uri/Jut s+yi.rt/i tr^-r^
with different maenttk. Of tbi* *^ere it *-j
(4)1^4. VJA./*flM«n.4iM».*. »■ * W JU Jt*~+
490 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, example recorded by Pausamas, and already
v^vw alluded to in the account of Epxdauria1. After
leaving this Ruin, yre returned into the road;
and quitting the plain, bore off upon our right,
towards the east, by a rocky ascent along the
channel of a water-course, towards the regal
Jtywit*. residence of Agamemnon* and city of Perseus,
built before the War of Troy, full thirteen
centuries anterior to the Christian sera. Already
the walls of the Acropolis began to appear
upon an eminence between two lofty conical
mountains : the place is now called Carvato.
Even its Ruins were unknown eighteen hundred
years ago, when Strabo wrote his account of the
Peloponnesus : he says of Mycence, that not a
vestige of the city remained8. Eighty of its
heroes accompanied the Spartans to the defile
of TTiermopyke, and shared with them the glory
of their immortal deed3: this so much excited
the jealousy of the sister city, Argos, that it
was never afterwards forgiven: the A r gives,
stung by the recollection of the opportunity
(1) Pausan. Corinth, c. 27. See also the preceding Chapter of this
Volume.
(2) "Qert vvv fiijd' tgyo? tvpicKiaOai rije Mvcqvaiwv voXcitf.
Straboru Geog. lib. viii. p. 540. Ed. Oxon.
(3) Patijan. Corinth, c. 16. p. 146.
MYCEHM. 491
they had thus lost of signalizing themselves, chap.
and unable to endure the superior fame ofv^v^
their neighbour, made war against Mycence, and
destroyed the city4 : this happened in the first
year of the seventy -eighth Olympiad5, nearly five
centuries before the birth of Christ. " In that
region," says Pausanias, " which is called Argolis,
nothing is remembered of greater antiquity
than this circumstance6/9 It is not merely the
circumstance of seeing the architecture and the
sculpture of the heroic ages, which renders a
view of Mycerue one of the highest gratifications
a literary traveller can experience : the con-
sideration of its remaining, at this time, exactly state of
as Pausanias saw it in the second century, and
in such a state of preservation that an alto-
relievo described by him yet exists in the
identical position he has assigned for it, adds
greatly to the interest excited by these re-
markable Ruins : indeed, so singularly does the
whole scene correspond with his account of
the place, that, in comparing them together,
(4) M mnfwag ik 'Apytloi caBiCkov v*6 gjfXorviriac. Pausan. ibid.
(*) B. C. 406. See Chandler's Trar. in Greece, p. 290. Oaf. 1776.
(6) 'Bv yap rjrvw 'ApyoKUt ovopaZoutvp rapkv in waXaUnpa oh
Jftrjjwi'fvovtfiy. Pausan* at tapra, c 15. p. 144.
492 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, it might be supposed a single hour had
»V"J' 'Tint elapsed since he was himself upon the
spot.
The first thing that we noticed, as we drew
Bxtreor- nigh to the gate of the city, was an antient
poichre; Tumulus of immense size, upon our right,
precisely similar, in its form and covering, to
those conical sepulchres so frequently the
subject of allusion in these Travels ; whether
called barrows, cairns, mounds, heaps, or by
whatever other name, (as for example, Ttpe
by the Turks, and rctyoc and x^a by the
Oreeks,) they are now pretty well understood
to have all of them reference to a people of
the most remote antiquity (possibly the Cellte),
and to have been raised for sepulchral purposes.
Particular stress is now laid upon this circum-
stance, for reasons that will presently appear.
This Tumulus has evidently been opened since
it was first constructed, and thereby its interior
has been disclosed ; but at what time this
happened is quite uncertain ; probably in a
very remote age, from the appearance it now
exhibits. The entrance is no longer concealed :
like that of a Tomb described in the First Part
of these Travels, as found upon the Cimmerian
MYCBN.fi. 493
Bosporus, the door is in the side of the sepulchre : chap.
md there are steps in front of it. A small
iperture in the vertex of the cone has also
>een rendered visible, by the removal of the
oil; but this, as well as the entrance in the
tide, was once closed, when the mound was
in tire, and the Tumulus remained inviolate. All
he rest of the external part is a covering of
»arth and turf ; such as we see in every country
inhere the Tumuli appear. We ascended along
lie outside to the top : and had it not been for
lie circumstances now mentioned, we should
lave considered it in all respects similar to the
Tombs in the Plain of Troy, or in the South of
Russia, or in any of the Northern countries of
Europe. But this Sepulchre, among modern tra-
vellers, has received the appellation of The brazen
Treasury of Atreus and his Sons ; an assumption not the
requiring more of historical evidence in its ot Atreus.
lupport, than has yet been adduced to sub-
stantiate the fact. In the first place, it may
)e asked, What document can be urged to
wove, either that the treasury of Atreus was
frozen, or that this was the treasury? The
nrhole seems to rest upon the discovery of a
Pew bronze nails within the Sepulchre ; used evi-
dently for the purpose of fastening on something
494 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, wherewith the interior surface of the cone was
VIII*
formerly lined. But allowing that the whole of
the inward sheathing consisted of bronze plates,
what has this fact to do with the subterraneous
cells or dwellings (yw6yaia oiroSofciiftora) where the
treasures of Atreus were deposited? Cells of
bronze were consistent with the antient customs
of dMArgolis ; there was a Cell of this description
at Argos, used for the incarceration of Danae1:
a similar repository existed in the Citadel of
MyceruBj said to have been the hiding-place of
Eurystheusj when in fear of Hercules9. But this
Sepulchre is without the walls of the Acropolis ;
nor can it be credited that any sovereign of
Myceme would construct a treasury without his
Citadel, fortified as it was by Cyclopean walls.
Paicsanias, by whom alone this subterraneous
treasury of Atreus is mentioned, clearly and in-
disputably places it within the Citadel, close by
the Sepulchre of the same monarch. Having
passed the gate of the city, and noticed the
Lions over the lintel, he speaks of the Cyclop6an
wall surrounding the city, and describes the
(1) VM. Pautan. in Corinth, c. 23. p. ie4. Ed. KuMniL
(%) ApoUodonu, lib. ii. c. 4. GSett. 1782.
M Y C E N JE. 495
antiquities it enclosed. " Among the Ruins of chap.
MycentB," says he*, " there is a spring called
Persia, and the subterraneous Cells of Atreus and
of his Sons, where they kept their treasures:
and there indeed is the Tomb of Atreus, and of
all those whom, returning with Agamemnon from
Troy, JEgvsthus slew at supper." Cassandra
being of course included among the number,
he observes, that this circumstance had caused
a dispute between the inhabitants of Mycena
and those of Amyclce concerning the Monument
{Mtnjfia) of Cassandra, which of the two cities
really possessed it. Then he adds, that another
Monument is also there, that of Agamemnon
himself, and of his charioteer Eurymedon : and
he closes the chapter, saying8, " The Sepulchres
of Clytcemnestra and JEgisthus are without the
walls; not being worthy of a situation where
Agamemnon and those slain with him were laid/9
From these observations of Pausanias we learn
(S) Mvkiivmv ik Iv toiq ipf iirlotf cpifyif rk l<rri caXov/iiy* Uipmla,
gal *Arpiw£ *ai rmv xaiiuv vw6y<ua olKodoprjfiara, iv$a ol Oqvavpol
fffcfft t&v gpif/tari*? ^vav, t&+oq &i l<rrt /xiv 'Arpiwf, ilol Zl mal 5<rovf
civ 'Ay a fiipvovt ixavfjKovrac IK 'IXiotr tiuxviffac tartfdvtvaiv
AlyieOoQ. Fautan. Corinth, c \Q.p. 147.
(4) KXvraipv far pate 4ra^ij*aJ AlyicBoQ6\iyovair*ripvrov rti%ovc.
Irrbc 9k <ixf^i«W//<rav, IvOa 'Ayapipvw rt avrbc Utiro *ai oi adv
iru'vy fovtvOimc. Pausan. ut supra.
496
PELOPONNESUS.
CvifiP# two ^^S8 * fir8t* '^at t*1*8 Sepulchre could not
K~* — ' have been the Treasury of Atreus, because it is
without the walls of the Acropolis ; secondly, that
it cannot be the Monument (Mvrjpa) of Aga-
memnon, according to Pausanias, because this
was within the Citadel. If the names assigned
by him to the different monuments of Mycenm
may be considered as duly authorised by
history, which perhaps is doubtful, we might
Heroum of consider it as the Heroum of Perseus, with whose
Perseus. ... ,
situation it seems accurately to correspond. As
soon as Pausanias leaves the Citadel, and begins
his journey towards Argos, the first object no-
ticed by him is the Heroum ; describing it as
upon his left hand1. His account therefore
agrees with the position of this magnificent
Sepulchre, which is worthy of being at once both
the Tomb and the Temple of the consecrated
founder of Mycence. Here, if we had no other
document to consult than the description of
Greece by that author, we should be compelled
to terminate our inquiry; but, fortunately for
our subject, we are able to select as a guide
upon this occasion a much more antient writer
than Pausanias; one, indeed, who has cast but a
(2) 'Ric Mvnyvfiy 9k ic'Apyo? ipgofiivotc lv dpurrtpf U(p4fi*c wap&
ri)v 6S6v itrriv HPQON. Pauiamm Corinthiaca, c. 18. |*. 149. ft
Kuhnii.
M Y C E N JR. 497
glimmering light among the Ruins of Mycenae, chap.
V XX la
but every ray of it is precious. It was here ^-v-*
that Sophocles laid the scene of his Electra ; SophoeUs.
and evidence is afforded, in the present ap-
pearance of the place, to prove that his allusions
to the city were founded upon an actual view of
its antiquities. When it is recollected that these
allusions were made nearly six centuries before
the time of Pausanias, every inference fairly
deducible from them is entitled to consideration.
It is worthy of remark, that Sophocles was thirty-
one years of age when Mycenm was laid waste
by the Argives*; consequently he had ample
opportunity of visiting the city prior to that
event, and of gathering from its inhabitants the
circumstances of its antient history ; but Pau-
Manias writing so long afterwards, although upon
the spot, could only collect from oral testimony,
and tradition, his account of the antiquities:
indeed it has been already shewn, that, when
speaking of Mycenae, he says the inhabitants of
Argolis remembered nothing more antient than
the circumstances attending its downfall3.
(3) According to the Arundel Marbles, Sophocles died B.C. 406, at
the age of ninety-one, sixty yean after the capture and destruction of
JfjpttJta by the Ar gives.
(3) VkL Paumn. Corinth, c. 15. p. 144.
VOL. VI. K K
498 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. In the beginning of the Electra, the prospect is
wv^/ described as it was viewed by a spectator upon
Iuteroal . .
ETideoce hi? arrival at Mycenae ; and the beauties of the
cUs having poet can only be adequately estimated by per-
spot. sons who have been upon the spot. The best
commentary upon the drama itself would be an
accurate representation of the very scene, as it
is exhibited to a spectator who is placed before
the Propylcea of the Acropolis of Mycence. When
the companion of Orestes is made to say, upon
coming to the gates, that " Argos is present to
the view1, and that the Herceum is upon the left
hand9/' the Scholiast has been so confounded
as to make of Argos and Mycence one city;
whereas the speaker is only describing what
the eye commands from that situation. Argos
is thence in view ; making a conspicuous
object upon the right hand3 ; as the Her (Bum,
according to Pausanias, also did upon the left4.
(1) Td y&p, iraXaibv "Xpyogt ov 'wdQttc., r6St.
Sophocl. Elect, v. 4. torn. I. p. 176. Pari*, 1781.
(2) ovl dpiartpac d' 8£«,
"Hpac o xXttvbc vafc.
Ibid. tt. 11,12. p. 178.
(3) See Plates vin. ix. facing pp. 30, 38, of G<U'$ Ilin. of Greea.
Land. 1810. Sir W. OelVt drawing* afford a valuable commentary
upon the text of Sophocles, in the opening of the Blectra.
(4) M VKqv&ftr 8k iv Apivrtpf, niim ^frigci xal Sixa ordtta rd 'Hpa*w-
Pausania Corinthiaca, c. 17. p. 147. ed. Kuhniu
MYCENJE. 499
These were objects, naturally striking the chap.
attention in the noble prospect from the en- *^~
trance to the city ; and there could not have
been an individual within the Theatre at Athens
when this Tragedy was presented, who had
ever visited Mycence, that would not have been
sensible of the taste and accuracy of Sophocles,
in making these remarks. We may now see
whether this Tumulus is not alluded to by
Sophocles, and by Euripides, and its situation
distinctly pointed out as being on the outside
of the gates, according to the usual custom
respecting Grecian sepulchres. But, previous
to this, it will be necessary to state, that when
Sophocles mentions the regal seat of the Kings of
Mycena>> he is not speaking of a single building
answering to the vulgar notion of a house, but of
the whole structure of the fortress, wherein they
resided ; a Citadel ; resembling that of the
Krevdin at Moscow, formerly inhabited by Russian
sovereigns ; or, like the Tower of our metro-
polis, where the English monarchs once resided.
It is in this sense that he uses the word AwjLia*,
(5) ttfia TltXowaZv Sopkocl. Sleet, w. 10. Pari$, 1781 .
?.v t* <i Tarpifov twpa. Ibid • v. 69.
Ki rov rvpdvvov imfiar AiyiaOov raft : Ibid. v. 063.
A'7**»v Itrut ru>v&' Ibid. w. 40.
« Kara9T&rifiv tofiw. Ibid. v. 72.
K K 2
500 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, with reference to all the buildings inclosed by
\^^j the Acropolis ; and the gates of it are called
A^and Prapyfa&\ as in the instance of the Athenian
xIZ* Citadel This will be further evident when we
proceed to a description of the entrance to the
Acropolis; for the gate is not more distinctly
alluded to by Pausanias than by Sophocles him-
self, as will presently appear. Orestes, desirous
of bearing his vows to his father's tomb, repairs
thither before he enters the Propyhsa ; and
JElectra, who is only permitted to leave the
Citadel \n the absence of JEgisthus, meets Chryso-
thetnis upon the outside of the gates, carrying the
offerings sent by her mother to appease the
Tombqf Manes of Agamemnon*. The position of the
Agamem- * r
non. Sepulchre seems, therefore, in all respects, to
coincide with that of the Tumulus we are now
describing ; but the words of Sophocles are also
decisive as to its form ; for the Tomb of Aga-
memnon is not only called r«tyoc, but also koA*5viis:
and as, in this Tragedy, the poet adapted bis
(1) Sophocl. Elect, v. 1391. Id v. I486, &gitthus commands the
gates (xvXac) to be thrown open.
(3) TiV av <tv ri}vli IIP02 6YPQN02 llotoic
' EX 9 ova a fwvtlc, w ca<riyvr)rij,^artv;
Ibid. vv. 330, 331. torn. I. p. SIS.
(3) 'Ejt« yap r,\9oy irarpoc APXAION rafov,
'Op* KOAQXHS IK dcpac vcofSpvrot*
Ufiytkf yakaKToc, rai TtpuTTifij rvcXy
USlvtuv &<r' ivriv AvQimv 9^* rarpk. Ibid. r. 800. p. ***•
MYCENJL 501
description to a real scene, and to existing chap.
objects, there seems reason to believe that, in \^w
his time at least, this remarkable Sepulchre was
considered by the inhabitants of Mycence as the
Tomb of Agamemnon; although described by
Pausanias rather as the Heroum of Perseus. But
the most striking evidence for the situation of
the Tomb of Agamemnon occurs in the Electra of
Euripides. When Orestes, in that tragedy, relates
to Py lades his nocturnal visit to the sepulchre of
his father, it is expressly stated that he repaired
thither without entering within the walls4. Possibly,
therefore, the known existence of this Tumulus,
and of its form and situation, suggested both to
Sophocles and to Euripides their allusions to the
Tomb of Agamemnon, and to the offerings made
by Orestes at his father's sepulchre. The Reader,
after a perusal of the facts, will, of course,
adopt his own conjecture. We shall now pro-
ceed to a further description of the Monument
itself.
Having descended from the top of it, we interior
repaired to the entrance, upon its eastern side. Tumuiu*.
(4) Nvrrorfi rrjcdi irpof r&Qov fioXwv warpbc,
k . r. X.
KAI TEIXEQN MEN ENT02 OY BAINQ nOAA . . .
Euripidit Electra, y. 90. p. 409. ed. Barnes Cantab. 1604.
502 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. Some steps, whereof the traces are visible.
VIII. .
v^^z-O originally conducted to the door. This entrance,
built with all the colossal grandeur of Cyclopean
architecture is covered by a mass of breccia, of
such prodigious size, that were it not for the
testimony of others who have since visited the
Tomb, an author, in simply stating its dimen-
sions, might be supposed to exceed the troth.
The door itself is not more than ten feet wide ;
and it is shaped like the windows and doors of
the Egyptian and earliest Grecian buildings,
wider at the bottom than at the top ; forming a
passage six yards long, covered by two stones.
Enormous The slab now particularly alluded to, is the
innermost entablature ; lying across the uprights
of the portal ; extending many feet into the
walls of the Tomb, on either side. This vast
lintel is best seen by a person standing within
the Tomb, who is looking back towards the
entrance1 : it consists of a coarse-grained
breccia, finished almost to a polish : and the
same siliceous aggregate may be observed in
the mountains near MycencB, as at Athens. We
carefully measured this mass, and found it to
equal twenty-seven feet in length, seventeen,
feet in width, and four feet seven inches in
(1) See Plate VI. of Gell's I tin. of Greece, facing p. 34. Lond. 1810.
MYC £K£. 503
thickness. There are other stones also of im- chap.
VIII-
mense size within the Tomb; but this is the
most considerable ; . and perhaps it may be
mentioned as the largest slab of hewn stone in
the world*. Over this entrance there is a tri-
angular aperture ; the base of the triangle co-
inciding with the lintel of the portal, and its ver-
tex terminating pyramidically upwards, so as to
complete, with the inclining sides of the door,
an acute, or lancet arch. This style of archi-
tecture, characterizing all the buildings of
MyceruB and of Tiryns, is worthy of particular
attention ; for without dwelling upon any nuga-
tory distinctions as to the manner wherein
such arches were constructed ; whether by
projecting horizontal courses of stone, or by
the latter invention of the curvature exemplified
in all the older Saracenic buildings', it is evident
that the acute or lancet arch is, in fact, the oldest
form of arch known in the world ; and that
examples of it may be referred to, in buildings
(2) Excepting only Pompey's Pillar: bat this is of a different form,
being not to wide although much longer. The famous pedestal of the
statue of Peter the Great, at Petersburg, often described as an entire
mass of granite, consists of several pieces.
(3) See " Two Letter* on the subject of Gothic Architecture," bj the
Her. John Haggitt ; Camb. 1813 ; wherein the Eastern origin of the
" Pointed Style*1 is clearly demonstrated.
504 PELOPONNBflUS.
chap, erected before the War of Troy. The use of
vin.
the triangular aperture above the portal is satis-
factorily explained by the appearance of the
Gate of Mycena, where a similar opening is
filled by a triangular piece of sculpture in alUh
uteofthe relievo. The cause of placing such tablets in
Caritj11" such situations may be shewn by reference to
Stance! exiting superstition ; they were severally what
a Russian of the present day would call the
Obraze or Bogh ; an idolatrous type or symbol
of the mythology of the country. Sophocles, in
the description he affords of Mycena, alludes
to this ancient custom, as will afterwards
appear. Having passed the entrance, and
being arrived within the interior of the tomb,
we were much struck by the grandeur of its
internal appearance. Here we found that what
appears externally to be nothing more than a
high conical mound of earth, contains within it
a circular chamber of stone, regularly built, and
chamber, terminating above in a conical dome, corre-
sponding with the exterior shape of the tumulus.
Its form has been aptly compared to that of an
English bee-hive1. The interior superficies of
the stone was once lined either with metal or
(l)TTie Greek bee-hives have a different form: they are generally
cj lindrical.
If YCEKiL 505
with marble plates, fastened on by bronze nails : chap.
. . VIII,
many of which now remain as they were
originally driven into the sides. These nails
have been analyzed, and proved to consist of
capper and tin* : the metal is therefore, properly
speaking, the \a\*oc of Homer* or bronze; a
compound distinguished from the orichalcum*,
or brass of later ages, which consisted of copper
and zinc We had scarcely entered beneath the
dome, before we observed, upon the right hand,
another portal, leading from the principal
chamber of the tomb to an interior apartment
of a square form and smaller dimensions. .The
door- way to this had the same sort of triangular
aperture above it that we had noticed over the
main entrance to the sepulchre; and as it was
nearly closed to the top with earth, we stepped
(2) In the proportion of eighty- eight parts of copper added to
twelve of tin, according to their analysis by Mr. Hatchett. The same
constituent*, nearly in the same proportion, exist in all very antient
bronze. The celebrated W. H. Wollaston, M.D. Secretary to the
Royal Society, analyzed some bronze arrow-heads of great antiquity
farad near KremencMck in the South of Russia, and observed the
same compound of copper and tin. Possibly the most antient brorae
may be derived from a native alloy consisting of the two metals in this
state of combination.
(3) See Watson's Chemical Essays, vol. IV. p. 85, et seq. Camb.
1766, where the learned author ingeniously proves that the orichalcum
of the Romans was a metallic substance analogous to our compound
of copper and sine ; or brass.
606 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, into the triangular cavity above the lintel, that
we might look down into the area of this inner
chamber ; but here it was too dark to discern
any thing. Being afraid to venture into a place
of unknown depth, we collected and kindled a
fagot of dry bushes, and, throwing this in a
blaze to the bottom, we saw that we might
easily leap down and examine the whole cavity.
The diameter of the circular chamber is sixteen
yards ; but the dimensions of the square
apartment do not exceed nine yards by seven.
We did not measure the height of the dome ;
but the elevation of the vertex of the cone,
from the floor in its present state, is said to be
about seventeen yards1.
After leaving this sepulchre, the Cyclopia*
walls of Mycenae, extending to a short distance
in a parallel projection from the entrance to the
Citadel, pointed out to us the approach to the
gate on this side ; which is built like Stonehengt,
with two uprights of stone, and a transverse
entablature of the same massive construction.
Above this is a triangular repository similar to
those already described within the tomb ; but
( 1) See GelVt I tin. of Greece, p. 30. Land. 1810.
MYC£N£. 507
instead of being empty as in the former chap.
VIII.
instances, it is entirely filled by a enormous alto- v^v**'
relievo, upon a stone block of a triangular form ;
exhibiting two Lions, or rather Panthers, standing LmmUu
like the supporters of a modern coat of arms.
This is the identical piece of sculpture noticed
■by Pausanias as being over the gate of the
Citadel*. But the mention he has made of it
does not appear to have been the only instance
where this curious specimen of the sculpture of
the heroic ages is noticed by antient writers.
The allusions to a real scene in the Electro, of
Sophocles have beeu recently stated ; and while
we now shew that the same drama has also
preserved the record of a very curious super-
stition, it will likewise appear that this re-
markable monument of the antient mythology
of Mycence did not escape his notice. Orestes,
before entering the Citadel, speaks of worship-
ping the statues of the Gods of the country
which are stationed in the Propyloea*. The
antient custom of consecrating gates, by placing
(4) Aiiwtrai 8k 8/iwg In xal dXKa rov TtpifiSXov, *ai 17 jrvX?-
A BOOTES ik l+t<rrijKa<Tiv airj. Pautan. Corinth, c. 16. p. 146.
ed. KuhniL
(5) xarpifa xpooKvaavO' Itq
Oiwv, 8 (to t Tip wp6irv\a vaiovoivratt.
Sophocl. EUct. t. 1901. torn. I. p. 328. Par. 1781.
608 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, sacred images above them, has existed in ever
VIII. .
v^v^, period of history ; and it is yet retained in some
countries. There is still a holy gate belonging
to the Kremlin at Moscow; and the practice
here alluded to is daily exemplified in the
Russian city, by all who enter or leave the
Citadel through that gate. Every thing there-
fore; conspires to render the Ruins of Mycena,
and especially of this entrance to the Acropolis,
preeminently interesting ; whether we consider
their venerable age, or the allusions made to
them in such distant periods when they were
visited by the Poets and Historians of Greece
as the classical antiquities of their country;
or the indisputable examples they afford of
the architecture, sculpture, mythology, and
rioMMd customs of the heroic ages. The walls of
Sonofthe Mycence, like those of the Citadels of Argos
Propyiasa. ancj Tiryns, were of Cyclopean masonry, and
its gates denote the same gigantic style of
structure. Any person who has seen the sort
of work exhibited by Stonehenge, and by many
other Celtic remains of a similar nature, will be
at no loss to figure to his imagination the
uprights and the lintels of the Gates of Mycenm.
We endeavoured to measure those of the prin-
cipal entrance, over which the leonine images are
placed. The length of the lintel equals fifteen
MYCENiE. 509
feet two inches ; its breadth, six feet nine chap.
inches ; and its thickness, four feet : and it is v^vw
of one entire mass of stone. The two uprights
supporting this enormous slab might afford still
ampler dimensions ; but these are almost buried
in the soil and rubbish which have accumulated
below so as to reach nearly to the lintel. Above
this lintel stands the remarkable piece of sculp-
ture alluded to by Sophocles1 and by Pausanias1.
It therefore requires a distinct examination, and
a very particular description. The last of
these authors, in the passage before cited, has Mytho-
called the two animals, there represented, Symbols.
loans; but they are evidently Panthers, or
Tigers ; the more appropriate emblems of that
branch of the Heathen Mythology which was
peculiarly venerated by the inhabitants of
Mycenat. This piece of sculpture is, as before
stated, an alto-relievo of a triangular form ; the
base of the triangle resting upon the lintel of
the gate j and its top pointing upwards, in such
a manner, that a perpendicular line bisecting
(1) Vid. Sopkocl. Elect. ▼. 1391.
(«) Vid. Pausan. in Corinth, c. 16. p. 14G. ed. KuhniL
(3) Ibid. See the words of Pausanias in a former Note.
(4) Vid. Sophocl. Elect, passim.
510 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, the angle of the vertex would also divide the
VJ11.
— ^^ lintel into two equal pajts. Such a line has
been used by the antient sculptor for the po-
sition of a pillar exactly resembling a sepulchral
Stile y resting upon a pedestal over the lintel;
but this pillar is most singularly inverted, the
major diameter of the shaft being placed up-
permost ; so that, contrary to every rule we
are acquainted with respecting antient pillars,
its diameter is less towards the base than at
the capital. As to the order of architecture
denoted by this pillar, it is rather Tuscan than
Doric ; and it is remarkably ornamented by four
balls, placed horizontally above the Abacus.
There is also a circular ornament, or Orb, in
the front of the pedestal, which is a double
Torus. The pillar is further supported by two
Panthers ; one standing erect on either side of
it, with his hinder feet upon the lintel, but with
his two fore-paws upon the pedestal of the
pillar. The heads of these animals seem to have
been originally raised, fronting each other,
above the capital ; where they probably met,
and occupied the space included by the vertex
of the triangle ; but they have been broken off,
and no part of them is now to be seen. The
two Panthers, thus placed on the two sides of
MTCEKJ2.* 511
the pillar, exactly resemble the supporters used chap.
in heraldry for an armorial ensign1. The di- v^^,
mensions of this alto-relievo are as follows : the
height nine feet eight inches ; the width, in the
broadest part towards the base of the triangle,
eleven feet nine inches ; the thickness of the
slab, one foot ten inches. The stone itself
exhibits upon one side of it, evident marks of
a saw ; but it is in other respects extremely
rude. As it has been fortunately preserved in
its pristine situation, it serves to explain the
nature of the triangular cavities above the doors
in the tomb we have so lately described ; proving
that they were each similarly occupied by a
sacred tablet of the same pyramidal or triangular
form. We have before seen that the whole
inclosure of the Acropolis of Athens was one
vast shrine or consecrated peribolus; and the
Citadel of Mycencs upon a smaller scale was
probably of the same nature. These <€t&fete9 SSST
therefore, were the Hiera, at the Gates of the holy Gltei'
places before which the people worshipped. Of
the homage so rendered at the entering in of
sanctuaries, we find frequent allusion in the
Scriptures. It is said in JSzekiel*, that "the
(1) See the Vignette to thU Chapter.
(2) Etekiei xhi. 3.
512 Peloponnesus,
chap. people of the land shall worship at the
VIII. T
DOOR OF THE GATE BEFORE THE LORD, IN THE
SABBATHS, AND IN THE NEW MOONS:" and in
the sublime song of the sons of Korah1, the Gates
of the Acropolis of Jerusalem, owing to their
sanctity, are described as of more estimation in
the sight of God, "than all the dwellings of
Jacob/' Mycence has preserved for us, in a
state of admirable perfection, a model of one
of the oldest Citadels of the world j nor can
there be found a more valuable monument for
the consideration of the scholar profoundly
versed in the history of antient art, than these
precious relics of her Propylcea, exhibiting
examples of sculpture more antient than the
Trojan War, and of the style of fortification
used in the heroic ages ; and also a plan of
those Gates, where not only religious ceremonies
were performed, but also the courts of judi-
cature were held*. For this purpose, it was
necessary that there should be a paved court,
or open space, in front of the Propylcea ; as
(I) Psalms \xxx\W. 2.
(3) Vide Chronicon Par turn, Epoch 5. where the place of Council
for the A mphictyones is called UvXaia. Suidas pays, that not only the
place (6 tSttoc.,) but the Assembly itself, had this name. ( Vid. SuuL in
voc. UvXayopai ) See also Job xxix. 7. Pf.lxix. 12, &c.
HTCBNA. 513
it was here that kings and magistrates held chap.
VIII.
their sittings upon solemn occasions. It is %^vw
said of the kings of Israel and Judah, that they
sat on their thrones in a void place?, in the
ENTRANCE OF THE GATES OP SaMARIA, where
ALL THE PROPHETS PROPHESIED BEFORE THEM.
The Gate of Mycenee affords a perfect commen-
tary upon this and similar passages of Scripture ;
the walls of the Acropolis project in parallel
lines before the entrance, forming the sort of
area, or oblong court, before the Propykea, to
which allusion is thus made ; and it is in this
open space before the Citadel that Sophocles has
laid the scene in the beginning of his Electra.
The Markets were always in these places4, as it
is now the custom before the Gates of Acre, and
many other towns in the East: hence it is
probable, that, in the mention made by So-
phocles of the Lycean Fonim5, he is not
alluding to one of the public Fora of Argos,
but to the Py lag or a or Market-place at the Gate or the
of Mycenee, whose inhabitants, in common with v
all the Argives, worshipped the Lycean Apollo.
(9) Or floor, according to the Hebrew. See 1 Kings xxil. 10.
(4) Set 2 Kings I. 18.
(6) Afirif £*, 'Opiora rov \vko*tovov 0§ov
'Ayopd A $««>£.—
Soph. Elect. ▼. fl. pp. 176, 178. torn. I. Paris, 1781.
VOL. VI. I- L
614 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. The same author makes the worship of Apollo,
VIII*
>/^r or the Sun, the peculiar mythology of the city1;
of th* Sun. and it is confirmed by the curious symbols of
the Propyfea, before which Orestes pays his
adoration*. Apollo, as a type of the Sun, was the
same divinity as Bacchus ; and the two Panthers
supporting the pillar represent a species of
animal well known to have been sacred to the
S^ Indian Bacchus. This divinity, also, the Osiris
rtot,C8, of Egypt, was often represented by the simple
type of an orb ; hence the introduction of the
orbicular symbols : and among the different
forms of images set up by antient nations in
honour of the Sun, that of a pillar is known to
have been one. There was an image of Apollo
which had this form at Amycke*; and the Sun-
images mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures seem
to have been of the same nature. In the book
of the Jewish Law, immediately preceding the
passage where the Israelites are commanded to
abstain from the worship of " the sun, or moon,
or any of the host of heaven," it is forbidden
to them to set up any idolatrous pillar*. All
(1) 8oph. Bled. ▼. HKB, c r. X.
(2) Ibid. t. 1801.
(8) Vid. Pautan. in Laconic, c. 19. p. 857. ed. KuhnU.
(4) Deuteronomy, xwi. 22 ; x?U. 3.
MTCKNJfi. 616
the superstitions and festivities connected with chap.
the JDionysia came into Ghreece with Danaus from ^v^/
Egypt?. The cities of Argolis are, consequently,
of all places the most likely to retain vestiges
of these antient orgies ; and the orbicular sym-
bols consecrated to the Sun, together with
the pyramidal form of the tablets, the style
of architecture observable in the walls of
Mycena, and the magnificent remains of the
sepulchres of her kings, all associate with our
recollections of Egypt, and forcibly direct the
attention towards that country. That the rites
of Apollo at Mycence had reference to the
worship of the Sun is a circumstance beau-
tifully and classically alluded to by Sophocles ;
who introduces Electra hailing the holy light?,
and calling the swallow Messenger of the God7,
because, being the herald of the coming spring,
it was then held sacred, as it now is in that
country.
(6) According to Plutarch, the Dionysia were the nme with the
Egyptian Pamylia. Tj)v 9k r£v HAMYAIQN loprjv dyovrte,
(£**cp uptjrai) faXXuri)v t&aav, c. r. X. Plat, de Itid. et Otir. cap.
86. Franco/. 1590. For the ^Egyptian origin of these festivals, see
also Herodot. lib. ii. The Orgia, and Triettrica, come from Thrace, hat
they were originally from JEgypt. See Diod. Sic, vol. J. pp. 239, 848. *
(6) TQ faoc. ayvor. Sophod. BUct. ▼. SO. p. 1S6. torn. I. Paris, 1781.
(7) A<*c ayyiXog. Ibid. r. 149.
L L 2
Walls of
5 16 P BLOPONNESUS.
vmP' This gate faces the north-wesL After we
had passed it, we followed the circuit made
bv the walls around the hill of the CUadeL
These consist of huge unhewn masses of stone,
so fitted and adapted to each other as to have
given rise to an opinion that the power of man
was inadequate to the labour necessary in
building them. Hence the epithet of CyclopSan,
bestowed upon them by different authors1.
The Peribolus they inclose is oblong, and about
three hundred and thirty yards in length.
Upon the northern side are the remains of
another portal, quite as entire as that we
have already described, and built in the same
manner ; excepting that a plain triangular mass
of stone rests upon the lintel of the gateway,
instead of a sculptured block as in the former
Antient instance. We saw within the walls of the
Citadel an antient cistern, which had been
hollowed out of the breccia rock, and lined
with stucco. The Romans had no settlement at
Mycencs ; but such is the state of preservation
Cittern.
(1) KvcXwvcuxv fcokiv (in EwrtpidL HtrcuU Furcnte). KmcXw*"
Bv/dkag (Ipkigen. in Aul.) KvcXttirua ovpavia rei^ij (in Sofkod*
JSUct.) Kvk\*w*v H cai ravra ipya tlrai Xiyoveiv. Paul*** **
Coring, c. 16. p. 146. ed. Kukniu
MTCENJB. 5 17
in which the cement yet exists upon the 'sides chap.
of this reservoir, that it b difficult to explain the
cause of Its perfection after so many centuries.
Similar excavations may be observed in the
Acropein of Argot ; also npon the Mount of
Olives near to Jerusalem ; and among the remains
of the antient cities of Taurica Chersonesus,
particularly in the rocks above the Portus Sym-
bolorum. The porous nature of breccia rocks
may serve to explain the use and perhaps the
absolute necessity of the stucco here ; and it
may also illustrate the well-known fable con-
cerning those porous vessels which the Dandides
were doomed to fill ; probably alluding to the
cisterns of Argos which the daughters of Danaus
were compelled to supply with water, according
to the usual employment of women in the East.
The other antiquities of Mycenae must remain
for the more attentive examination of future
travellers ; who, as it is hoped, will visit the
Ruins provided with the necessary implements
for making researches, where, with the slightest
precaution, they will be little liable to inter-
ruption on the part of the Turks : the place
being as destitute of inhabitants, and almost
as little known or regarded, as it was in the
time of Strabo ; when it was believed that
518 M Y C E N jE.
chap, not a vestige of MyceruB could be found. The
inducement towards such inquiries is of no
common nature: whatever may be discovered
will relate to the history of a city which ceased
to be inhabited long before the Macedonian
conquest, and to the manners of a people
coeval with JEschylus> with Sophocles, and with
Euripides.
CHAP. IX.
PELOPONNESUS.
Journey to Nemea — Defile of Tretus — Cave of
the Nemesean Lion — Fountain of Arcbemorus
— Temple of the Nemeaean Jupiter — Alba-
nians— Monument of Lycurgus — Neraeaean
River — Apesas — Sicyonian Plain — Sicyon—
Theatre — Prospect from the Coilon — Stadium
— Temple of Bacchus — Other Antiquities —
Medals — Paved Way — Fertility of the Land
— Corinth — Fountain of the Nymph Pirene —
Sisypbeum — Temple q/'Octavia — Visit to the
Governor — Odeum — Climate of Corinth.
After leaving Mycenae, we again descended chap/
towards the Plain of Argos1, lying westward; v^yv
and coming to a village called Carvati, made a ^JJJJJJjJ to
(1) "We descended from Myeetut into the rich plain of Argot ; not
now deterring the epithet of i*-ro'/3oroc, for the hones in this neigh-
bourhood are beyond measure miserable."— CoUmil Squirt's MS. Cor-
retponcUnce.
520
PELOPONNESUS.
CHAP.
IX.
Defile of
Tretus.
hearty meal upon eggs and coffee. We carried
with us an introductory letter to a person named
Andriano, who had discovered, as we were
informed, another Tomb at MyceruB, similar to
the one we have described ; but we could not
find him, and the people of the village knew
nothing of it We therefore continued our
journey northward for Nemea. As this route
lies out the antient road from Corinth to
Argos, (which did not pass through Nemea,) the
objects noticed by Pausanias, in the beginning
of that part of his second book which he calls
Argolica, do not occur. The city of Ckona
was ooe of this number1 ; whose remains
have been observed in the road to Corinth, and
at ten miles distance from that city9. The road
from Mycence to Nemea coincides with the road
to Corinth for a short distance after leaving
Carvati ; but upon reaching the mountains,
which separate the two plains of Argos and
Nemea, it bears off by a defile across a
mountain towards the west. Some allusion to
(1) 'E* KopivQov £' tig "Apyoc Ipxopivy K\i*val voXif lerlv oh
usyaKn. Pausan. in Corinth, c. 15. p. 143. ed. KuhmL
(3) Chandler found them upon a hill in the direct road from Arget to
Corinth. See Chandler's Travels in Greece, eh. 67. p. 834. Offer*
1776.
JOURNEY TO NUIBA. 521
its defile occurs in Pausanias, and to its devia- chap.
od from the main road : he says there were
wo ways of going from CleoruB to Argos; one
f them by Tretus* a narrow and a circuitous
ray, but the best carriage road of the two*.
uB we entered this defile, we travelled by the
ide of a rivulet of very clear water, through
roods which were once the haunts of the
imoas Nememan Lion, The only animals we
aw were some very fine tortoises. We passed
ne or two huts, inhabited by wild-looking
dlows, who told us they were the guards of
lie pass. They offered us water, and we gave
besi a few paras. Near this place we observed
be remains of the old road alluded to by
*au$anias, in his account of this defile : the
aarks of wheels were yet visible ; the surface
f the stone being furrowed into ruts; which
aust have been worn by the wheels of antient
arriages4 ; because vehicles of this kind are
(8) 'E* KXimvmv £c tlfftv lc "Apyoc &toi Avo* ij piv dydpdeiy
»£«yoi£ cat iortv Iwiropoc, >/ 9k kwi rov KaXovpivov Tpijrov, <rrcvi)
iy Kal avril irtpuxovrutv 6puv, <Jx»7/*a<r» 9i ioriv 5/iwc iiririffocorcpa.
'aauaa. ibid. p. 144.
(4) Sir W. Qell measured the distance between the fnrrowi. Ac-
ording to hi* observation, the wheels of antient carriages " were
faced at about the same distance from each other as in those of
lodern times." See Itin. of Greece, p. 47. LoncL 1801 .
522 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, not now used by the inhabitants of the Pefo-
ix. J
^w ponnesus. The mountain over which the defile
leads is still called Treto by the natives ; it
extends from east to west, along the southern
side of the Plain of Nemea. And this defile is
all that Pausanias means by " Tretus ;" but some
persons have believed that there was a town
called Tretum, lying to the north of ArgosK We
Care of the made diligent inquiry after the Cave of the
zaZZ**™ Nemeaan Lion, mentioned by the same author ;
being well assured that in a country famous for
the caverns contained in its limestone moun-
tains, an allusion of this kind would not have
been made by so accurate an author without
actual reference to some cave having borne this
appellation. The guides from Argos knew no-
thing of it ; but the people of Nemea afterwards
brought us back again to visit a hollow rock
hardly deserving the name of a cave, although
no unlikely place for the den of a lion. As
other travellers may be curious to visit it, we
shall describe its situation in such a manner
(l) "Trbtum, petite ville de 1'Argolide, presqu'au nord aVArgas.
Dans let montagnes pret de eette tille, on montrolt une cavent* oil te
retlroit, disoit-on, le lion feroce dont les poetos ont attribne la mort a
Hercule/'&c. Bnq/cloptdie Mttkodique. GeoarapMU Ancienne, par
MentelU. Tome troisieme, p. 373. a Paris, 1792.
CAVE OF THE NEMEiEAN LION. 523
that they may be easily guided to the spot. It chap.
is situate upon the top of the mountain, just ^ '
before the descent begins towards Nemea, but
upon the side of it which regards the Gulph
of Argot ; commanding a view of all the country
in that direction. If it be visited from Nemea,
its bearing by the compass, from the three
columns of the Temple of Jupiter, is due south-
east ; those columns being on the north-west side
of Tretus, and at the base of the mountain ; and
this cave at the summit, on the contrary side,
facing Argos and Nauplia. It consists simply of
an overhanging rock in the midst of thickets,
on the left side of the road from Nemea to
Argos ; forming a shed, where the shepherds
sometimes pen their folds. As the situation is
lofty, we made the following observations by a
small pocket compass.
A pointed summit, called the Peak of Giria, or
Gerio, antiently Mons Gerania, the most dis-
tant object s. w. & by w.
Citadel of Argos s. s. w.
Citadel of Nauplia . . . . s.
Citadel of Corinth . . . . e. n. e.
Below the eye, in this direction, the site of
CleowB may be discerned in the few remaining
vestiges of that city.
524 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. This is the only cave of any description that
v^v^/ we could hear of in the neighbourhood ; the
people of the country knew of no other ; and
we may consider it as identified with the cme
mentioned by Pausanias, from the circumstance
of its position upon a mountain still bearing
the name of the place assigned by him for its
situation1. Its distance also from the ruins
of the Temple, being about a mile and a half,
agrees with that which he has stated, of fifteen
stadia2.
After regaining the road, the descent froto
this place soon conducts the traveller into (be
Fountain plain of Nemea. We passed the fountain
of A.TChCm
monu. .of Archemorus, once called Langia, and now
lAcoria. Near to it we saw the Tomb of OpkeUef*
at present nothing more than a heap of
stones. Pausanias calls the fountain the Adra-
stSan spring4: a superstition connected with it
•gave rise to all the sanctity and celebrity of the
(1 ) Vid. Pausau. in Corinte. e. 15 p. 144. ed.
(2) 'Ev Tovroig Tciig opeai rb <nrf)\awv in iiunnfttu row XioPTfftd
if Nc/ica rb \ittpiov airkxii aratiiovQ trtvri trov rat tiixa. Iv Uavrj
Siptlov rov Ardg va6c lirri Bkaq £gcog. Ibid.
(3) 'BvravBd iortpiy OfiXrov rafoc. Ibid.
(4) Tifv U irtiy^v 'A$pd<rrtiav oVo/ta£<.u<riv, fZrf irr'dWy nvi atria,
un Kai AvivpSvroc avr^v 'AtpdvTov. Ibid.
RUINS OF NEMEA. 525
surrounding Grove: victors in the Nemecean C^£P'
Games received no other reward than a chaplet ^vw
made of the wild parsley5 that grew upon its
margin ; and the herb itself, from the circumstance
of its locality, was fabled to have sprung from the
blood of Archemorus, in consequence of whose
death the spring is said to have received its
name0. We then came to the Ruins of theT«mpte
of the
Temple of the Nemejean Jupiter, which form ffememan
Jupiter*
a striking object as the plain opens. Three
beautiful columns of the Doric order, without
bases, two supporting an entablature, and a
third at a small distance sustaining its capital
only, are all that remain of this once magnificent
edifice ; but they stand in the midst of huge
blocks of marble, lying in all positions; the
fragments of other columns, and the sumptuous
materials of the building, detached from its
walls and foundations. The mountain Tretus
(6) Victors at the Nememan Game*, according to Plutarch (in Timo-
Uom), were crowned with parsley said to have sprung out of the blood of
Archemorus. " This it the very herb/ says Plutarch, '< wherewith wt
adorn the sepulchres of the dead." The Nemeaan were funereal games:
the Presidents were clothed in black garments.
(6) a< Una tamen tacitas, sed, jussa numinis, andas
Hsbc qnoque secreta nutrit Langia sub umbra,
Nondam ill! raptas dederat lacrymabile nomen
Archemorus, nee fama Dese."
Statius Thebaid. Kb. if.
526 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, makes a conspicuous figure, as seen from this
temple towards the south-east. A poor village,
consisting of three or four huts, somewhat
farther in the plain to the north of this moun-
tain, and north-east of the temple, now occupies
the situation of the antient village of Nemea.
It bears the name of Colonna; probably be-
stowed upon it in consequence of these Ruins.
One of its inhabitants, coming from those huts,
joined our company at the Temple. He told
us that there were formerly ninety columns all
standing at this place; and the other inhabitants
of his little village persisted in the same story.
The columns now remaining, and the broken
shafts of many other lying near to them,
are grooved : they measure four feet ten
inches in diameter. The stones of the foun-
dation of the Temple are of very great size.
We observed the wild pear-tree, mentioned
by Chandler1 so many years before, still
growing among the stones on one side of the
Ruin. He pitched his tent within the cell of
the Temple, " upon its clear and level area/'
Not having such comfortable means of accom-
modation for the night, we accompanied the
(1) See Chandler* $ Travels in Greece, p. 333. Oxford, 1776.
RUINS OF NEMBA. 527
peasant who had joined us, to the village, where c^p-
the Tchohadar had already arrived and engaged v***v*w
one of the huts for our reception. The poor
Albanians, to whom this little habitation be- Albanian*.
longed, had swept the earth floor and kindled a
fire upon it ; the smoke escaping through a hole
in the roof: one end of the hut being occupied
by their cattle and poultry, and the other by
the family and their guests. Having killed and
boiled a large fowl, we made broth for all the
party ; sitting in a circle round the fire. After-
wards, imitating the example offered to us by
oar host and his family, we placed our feet
towards the embers, and stretched ourselves
upon the floor of the cottage until the morning.
We perceived during the night, that the women,
instead of sleeping, were always tending the
fire ; bringing fresh fuel when it was wanted,
and spreading out the embers so as to warm the
feet of the men, who were lying around the
hearth. When these peasants had taken a short
nap, they sate up, and began talking. The con-
versation turned upon the oppressions of their
Turkish masters. The owner of the hut told us
that each male is compelled to pay a tax of
seventy piastres ; that, for himself, having three
sons, they demanded of him an annual payment
528 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, of two hundred and eighty piastres, besides other
v^w contributions; that he toiled incessantly with
his children to gain enough to satisfy their
demands, but found himself unable, after all
his endeavours. Having said this, the poor
man shed tears ; asking us if the time would
ever arrive when Greece might be delivered from
the Moslem tyranny : and adding, "If we had
but a leader, we should flock together by
thousands, and soon put an end to Turkish
dominion. " Towards morning, the braying of
their donkies set them all in motion. Having
asked the cause of the stir, they told us that
the day was going to break ; and upon further
inquiry we learned that the braying of an ass
was considered a better indication of the
approaching dawn than the crowing of a cock.
In the present instance they were certainly not
deceived, for we had no sooner boiled our
coffee than day-light appeared.
We then returned to the Ruins. Near to the
remains of the Temple, and upon the south side of
it, we saw a small chapel, containing some Doric
fragments, standing upon an antient tumulus;
Monu- perhaps the Monument of Lycurous, father of
Zyeur^us. Opheltes ; for this is mentioned by Pausanias as a
RUINS OF NEMEA.
529
mound of earth. Scarcely a vestige of the chap.
grove remains where the triennial games were
celebrated ; unless a solitary tree, here and
there, may be considered as relics1. The plain
all around the Temple exhibits an open surface
of agricultural soil. We could discover no trace
either of a Stadium or of a Theatrf ; both of
which are found in every other part of Greece
where solemn games were celebrated. When
every other monument by which Nemea was
adorned shall have disappeared, this tomb, with
that of Opheltes, and the fountain of Archemorus
upon the slope of the neighbouring hill, will
be the only indications of the situation of the
sacred grove. The three remaining columns of
the Temple of Jupiter are not likely to continue
long in their present place: some diplomatic
virtuoso, or pillaging Pasha, will bear away these
(1) Pauoanias says that the temple was surrounded by a grove of
cypresses. Kvfcapiooiav r< oXooq tarty irtpi rbv vaov. ( Vid. Pausan. in
Cor. e. Id. p. 144.) No cypress-tree is now to be seen near the Rains.
(2) Tt does not necessarily follow, that if this be the Temple of
Ntmeman Jove, the Games were celebrated close to the spot where the
Tempt* stands. 8ir TV. Gell found the remains of a Theatre in his
journey from Corinth to Nemea ; which, although he does not seem to
be aware of the circumstance, may be that of the Nemeaan Games.
He is just entering the Nemeaan Plain or valley ; and be says,
" Here joins the road leading from Mycenai to Nemea, which, turning
to the right, falls into the Valley of Nemea, between the site of a
Theatre on the right, and a fount on the left, now dry." See QelVe
Itin. of Greece, p. 22. Land. 1801 .
VOL. VI. M M
530 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, marble relics; and then, notwithstanding the
wvw boast of Statins1, the very site of the consecrated
games, whether instituted to commemorate
Uypsipyles loss, or the first labour of Hercvlef,
may become a theme of dispute. Perhaps,
indeed, the Temple is not of the high antiquity
that has been assigned to it. The columns are
said not to bear the due proportion which is
usually observed in the early examples of Doric
architecture8. This edifice may have been
erected by Hadrian, when that emperor restored
to the Nemeaan and to the Isthmian Games their
original splendour.
Early this morning, Wednesday, November the
eleventh, we began our journey towards Sic yon,
now called Basilico ; following the course of
ww*80* ^e Nemecean rivulet. This stream is alluded to
by Statins, with reference to the fountain before
(1) " manetingens gloria Nympham,
Cam tristem Hypsipylem ducibus eudatus Achttis
Ludus, et atra sacrum recolit Trieteris Ophelten."
Statute, ThebauL lib. It.
(2) According to JElum, lib. ir. c. 5, Hercules transferred to
Cleoncs the honours bestowed upon him by the Nemeane, for subduing
the lion.
(3) Sir W. Qell makes the diameters of the columns of the peristyle
equal five feet two inches and a half, and observes that the columns
are higher in proportion to their diameters than is usual iu the Doric
Order. See Itin. of Greece, p. 23. Lond. 1801.
RUINS OF NEMEA. 531
mentioned4. It flows in a deep ravine after chap.
leaving the plain, and then passes between the \**J—s
mountains which separate the Nemecean Plain
from that of Sicyon. On either side of the
rivulet the rocks appeared to consist of a
whitish chalky limestone. As we rode along
the left bank of the rivulet, we saw, upon our
right, a table mountain, believed by Chandler* to
be the Apesas of Pausanias, where Perseus was Apesas.
said to have sacrificed to Jupiter. Its flat top,
he says, is visible in the Gulph of Corinth. We
passed some ruined Chapels upon our left.
Almost every building of this kind in Greece has
been erected upon the ruins of some Pagan
sanctuary; for which reason they are always
worthy of a particular examination. After
riding about two hours along the Nemecean
rivulet, we suddenly quitted its course upon our
right, and beheld Sicyon, occupying an elevated
situation upon some whitish cliffs. Here we
noticed a Tomb and Ruins upon our right hand,
and immediately descended into the great fertile
plain which extends along the Sinus Corin- suyonian
tfnacus, between Sicyon and Corinth. Soon after plain*
(4) "tamen aviaser?at
Et nemui, et flovium." Stat. Theb. lib. iv.
(6) Trav. In Greece, p. 233. Oxf. 1 776.
M M 2
532 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, entering into this plain, we observed upon our
wirnriw right hand, a Chapel, containing Ionic capitals,
and other marble fragments. Hence we con-
tinued our journey upon a level and highly fer-
tile soil, cultivated like a garden : after crossing
a river, we observed, in several places upon
our lefty the ruins of antient buildings. We
sieym. then came to the site of the city of Sicyon.
So little is known concerning this antient seat
of Grecian power, that it is not possible to ascer-
tain in what period it dwindled from its high
pre-eminence, to become, what it now is, one of
the most wretched villages of the Peloponnesus.
The remains of its former magnificence are still
considerable ; and, in some instances, they
exist in such a state of preservation, that it is
evident the buildings of the city either survived
the earthquakes said to have overwhelmed
them, or they must have been constructed in
some later period. In this number is the
Theatre. Theatre ; by much the finest and the most per-
fect structure of the kind in all Greece. The
different parts of the city, whereof traces are
yet visible, serving as land-marks in pursuing the
observations ofPausanias, may be comprehended
under the following heads :
8ICYON.
533
1. A Fountain. CIj£p-
2. The Acropolis. v^.^
3. Foundations of Temples and other build-
ings ; some of these constructed in a
style as massive as the Cyclopian.
4. Very grand Walls, although built of brick
tiles.
5. Remains of a Palace, with many chambers.
6. The Theatre.
7. The Stadium.
8. Remains of a Temple near to the Theatre.
9. Antient Caves.
1 0. Antient Paved Way.
11. Ruins in the plain below Sicyon, towards
the sea.
With respect to some of these remains, hardly
any thing can be said, but the mere enumera-
tion of the names they bear in this list ; but of
others, a more particular description may be
given. The whole city occupied an elevated
situation j but as it did not possess one of those
precipitous rocks for its Citadel which sustained
the bulwarks of Athens, Argos, Corinth, and
many other Grecian States, no vestige of its
Acropolis can now be discerned, excepting only
the traces of its walls. It is situate above a
place now called Pakeo- Castro ; occupying that
part of the Ruins of Sicyon which lies upon the
south-east side, towards Corinth. Before we
enter upon any further detail of the Ruins here,
it may be proper, for the advantage of other
534 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, travellers, as well as for perspicuity of description,
to state the bearings of some principal objects.
From the village of Basilico, the Theatre bears
W^» N. W«
The Acro-Corinthus, or Citadel of Corinth,
s. e. and by s.1
The mountain Parnassus, as seen in Phocu . n.
Thebes in Boeotia e«n.e.
Whether this last object be visible or hot is very
doubtful ; but it was a place called Thiva by
the inhabitants, lying in the direction of Thebes*.
Hence it will be evident that the Ruins of
Sicyon occupy a prominent part of the Sicyonian
territory, extending towards the n. n. e. into
the Corinthian Gulph; and that they lie along a
ridge above the Plain of Sicyon, in a direction
from w. n.w. to e. s. e. having Parnassus due
north. The Acropolis, upon the s. e. side of
the city, may be recognised, both in the nature
of its walls, which are very antient, and in its
more elevated situation. Near this place
we observed the fragments of architectural
(1) It was highly satisfactory to the author to find his obserrationsby
the compass accidentally confirmed by such respectable authority as that
of Sir George Wheler, who, observing the bearing of Basilico from the
Acro-Corinthus (SeeJourn. into Greece,?. 442. Land. 1682) exactly
in the opposite direction, states it to be North-west and by North.
(2) Mr. Hawkins is of opinion, that the object referred to in this
instance may possibly be the very remarkable conical mountain called
CorombUa, which •verlooks the Gulph of Livodcstro.
s i c y o n. • 535
ornaments, and some broken columns of the Ionic chap.
order. Hard by the Acropolis may also be seen
the Caves before mentioned, as in the vicinity
of Athens : in all probability they were rather
the sepulchres3 than the habitations of the
earliest inhabitants, although this cannot now
be ascertained : they are all lined with stucco :
and Pausanias mentions certain secret recesses*
belonging to the Sicyonians, in which particular
images were kept for their annual processions
to the Temple of Bacchus beyond the Theatre.
(3) The Sepulchres of the Sieyonians in the second century consisted
of* hemp of earth, above which stood a st£l£, resting upon a stone bate,
and •nrmonntcd by a species of ornament resembling the pediment of a
temple; or that part of the roof which was called "the Eagle." (Vid.
Pane. Cor. c. 7. p. 126. ed. Kuhn.) The history of the Eagle npon
the Grecian temples is briefly this. The souls of kings, orer whose
sepulchres temples were originally erected, were believed (6xcl<r0<u) to be
carried to heaven upon eagles* wings. At the ritoal of the deification of
Roman Emperors, after the funeral ( Vid. Herodian. lib. ir. cap. 3.
t&m. 1. p. ISO. Argentorati, 1694) it was customary to let an eagle fly
from the Campus Martins; and, in allusion to a similar custom, Lyco-
pkron calls Achilles atrbv an eagle, because he carried about Hector's
body. An eagle f therefore, with expanded wings, was formerly repre-
sented upon the tympanum of the pediment in all temples; and, ulti-
mately, this part of the edifice itself received the appellation of AET02,
the Eagle. Ornaments of the same trilateral shape are often seen
surmounting the entrances of antient sepulchres, hewn in the rocks of
Syria, and of Asia Minor.
(4)*AXXa Ik ayakuara Iv 'AIIOPPHTQI Sicvfcivfoic lari. Pausar.
Cor. c. 7. p. 197. ed. Kuhnii.
636 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. There is still an antient paved road that con-
IX
ducted to the Citadel by a narrow entrance
between rocks, so contrived as to make all who
approached the gate pass through a defile that
might be easily guarded. Within the Acropolis
are the vestiges of buildings, perhaps the Hieron
of Fortuna Acr^a, and of the Dioscmu1 ;
and below it is a fountain, seeming to correspond
with that of Stazusa, mentioned by Pausamas
as near the gate2. The remains of a temple, built
in a very massive style of structure, occurs on
the western side of the village of Basilico ; and in
passing the fosse of the Citadel to go towards the
Theatre, which is beyond the Acropolis?, a sub-
terraneous passage may be observed, exactly
above which the Temple seems to have stood ;
as if by means of this secret duct persons
belonging to the sanctuary might have had
ingress and egress to and from the Temple,
without passing the gate of the Citadel. This
was, perhaps, the identical place called Cosme-
terium by Pausanias\ whence the mystic images
(1) 'Ev $i ry vvv arpoxoXn TvxiC upov lonv acpalac, furd Si a&rt
AaovKovpwv. Fautan. Car. c. 7. p. 127. ed. Kuhnii.
(2) Ilpog & ry irvXy, wqyii fori, c. r. X. Ibid.
(3) Pausaniat says, vtrb rffv aKpoxoKiv. Ibid.
(4) Tavra fiif taff Itaorov croc vvktI ig to Atoyvoov U rov coXo»-
pivov KOSMHTHPIOY KOpiZovct. Ibid.
sic yon. 537
were annually brought forth in the solemn chap.
procession to the Temple of Bacchus, situate
near the Theatre and the Stadium. Some of the
remains enumerated in the list may be those of
Venetian edifices ; as, for example, the ruin of
the Palace : the palaces of antient Sicyon being
highly splendid, and all built of marble. Indeed
an expression used by Pausanias seems to imply
that the Acropolis* as it existed in his time5, was
not the most antient Citadel. The sea is at the
distance of about a league from Basilico; but
the commanding eminence upon which the Ruins
are situate affords a magnificent view of the
Corinthian Gulph and of all the opposite coast
of Phocis. There is, however, no part of- the
antient city where this prospect is more striking
than from the Theatre. This structure is
almost in its entire state ; and although the
notes we made upon the spot do not enable us
to afford a description of its form and dimensions
equally copious with that already given of the
famous Theatre ofPolycletus mEpidauria,yet this
of Sicyon may be considered as surpassing every
other in Greece, in the harmony of its propor-
tions, in the costliness of the workmanship, in
the grandeur of the Onion, and in the stupendous
(6) 'E* to tj pvp 'A*poinJX*i, c. r. X. Paut. ibid.
538 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, nature of the prospect exhibited to all those
s^vw' who were seated upon its benches. If it were
freed from the rubbish about it, and laid open
to view, it would afford an astonishing idea of
the magnificence of a city whose luxuries were
so great that its inhabitants ranked among the
most voluptuous and effeminate people of all
Greece. The stone- work is entirely of that
massive kind which denotes a very high degree
of antiquity. Part of the Scene remains, together
with the whole of the seats, although some of
the latter now lie concealed by the soil. But
the most remarkable parts of the structure are
two vaulted passages for places of entrance ; one
being on either side, at the two extremities of
the Coilon, close to the Scene, and about half way
up ; leading into what we should call the side*
boxes of a modern theatre. Immediately in
Prospect front, the eye roams over all the Gulph of
CoUen. Corinth, commanding islands, promontories, and
distant summits towering above the clouds. To
a person seated in the middle of the Cavea, a
lofty mountain with bold sweeping sides ap-
pears beyond the Gulph, placed exactly in the
centre of the view j the sea intervening between
its base and the Sicyonian coast : and this moun-
tain marks the particular part of JBceotia now
pointed out by the natives of Basilico a&^Thwa)
S I C Y O N. 639
Thebes : but to a person who is placed upon chap.
the seats which are upon the right hand of s*^w
those in front, Parnassus, here called Lakura,
from its antient name Lycorea, most nobly
displays itself: this mountain is only visible in
very clear weather. During the short time we
remained in the Theatre, it became covered with
vast clouds, which at first rolled majestically
over its summit, and afterwards concealed it from
oar view.
The Stadium is on the right hand of a person stadium.
facing the Theatre : it is undoubtedly the oldest
work remaining of all that belonged to the
antient city. The walls exactly resemble those
of MyceruB and Tiryns : it may therefore class
among the examples of Cyclopean masonry. In
other respects, it is the most remarkable struc-
ture of the kind existing ; because it is partly a
natural, and partly an artificial work. The
persons by whom it was formed, finding that
the mountain upon which the Coilon of the
Theatre had been constructed would not allow a
sufficient space for another oblong Cavea of the
length requisite to complete a Stadium, built up
an artificial rampart, reaching out into the plain
from the mountain towards the sea: so that
this front-work resembles half a Stadium thrust
540 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, into the semi-circular cavity of a Theatre ; the
w»vL/ entrances to the area, included between both,
being formed with great taste and effect at the
two sides or extremities of the semicircle. The
antient masonry appears in the front-work so
placed. The length of the whole area equals
two hundred and sixty-seven paces ; the width
of the advanced bastion thirty-six paces ; and
its height twenty-two feet six inches. In front
of the projecting rampart belonging to the
outer extremity of the Stadium, and at a short
distance below it, in the plain, are also the
Temple of remains of a Temple ; completing the plan of
this part of the antient city ; which was here
terminated, on its western side, by three magnifi-
cent structures, a Theatre, a Stadium, and a
Temple ; as it was bounded towards its eastern
extremity by its Acropolis. We can be at no
loss for the name of this Temple, although
nothing but the ground plot of it now remain :
it is distinctly stated by Pausanias to have been
the Temple of Bacchus, which occurred beyond
the Theatre to a person coming from the Citadel1 ;
and to this Temple were made those annual
processions before alluded to, which took place
(1) Mcrd U rb Bkarpov, Aiovvoov va6g fore. Paus. Car. c. 7. p. 127.
ed. Kuhnii.
SIC YON. 541
at night, and by the light of torches, when the chap.
Sicyoniam brought hither the mystic images, called ^^^j
Baccheus and Lysius, chanting their antient
hymns8. Around the Theatre and Stadium, other An-
besides the traces of this Temple, other ruins
may be noticed, but less distinct as to their
form. In the plain towards the sea are many
more, perhaps extending to the Sicyonian haven,
which we did not visit. The Theatre itself was
of a much more extensive nature than other
edifices of the same kind commonly are : its
sides and front projected far into the plain. We
were not successful in our search for inscrip-
tions ; but the peasants sold to us many medals
and small terracotta vessels, which they said
they had found in caves near the spot. Among
the latter we collected lachrymatories of more
antient form and materials than anything we
had ever before observed of the same kind.
These vessels, as it is well known, were often
made of glass, and more antiently of earthen-
ware ; being diminutive as to their size, and of
delicate workmanship : but the lachrymatory
phials, in which the Sicyonians treasured up their
fUp oir 8v BAKXEION IvopdZovaiv, k, r. X. Intrai dk 6 jeaXovpcvaf
AY2IOS. Pout. ibid.
642 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, tears, deserve rather the name of bottles1: they
are nine inches long, two inches in diameter,
and contain as much fluid as would fill a phial
of three ounces ; consisting of the coarsest mate-
rials, a heavy blue clay or marl. But we also
collected little circular cups like small salt-
cellars, two inches in diameter, and one inch in
height, (which are said to be found in great
abundance at Sicyon,) of a much more elegant
(1) It is observed by the Author's friend, the learned Editor of
" Memoirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey" in a Note of his
valuable work, that " the supposition respecting Lachrymatories, as
intended to receive the tears of the relatives of the deceased, Is now
rejected by tlte most intelligent Antiquaries." See Walpole's M§msirst
p. 323. (Note.) London, 1817. Tet this custom was well known
among the Romans, and was more antiently in use among the
Eastern nations, especially among the Hsbrews. The ampullm, or
umaf laehrymales, were of different materials; some of glass, some
of earth. (See Chandler's Life of David, Vol. I. p. 106. Land. 1766.)
Their various forms and magnitude are represented by Montfaucon. In
his treatise " De umulis seu phialis in queis lachrymm eondebantur, quas
passim ex sepulehris eruunt," he maintains, from antient Inscriptions,
that this custom existed among the Antients. In one of those Inscrip-
tions, the following words occur : " Fusca Matkr, ad luctuk it
OBMITUK RBLICTA, GUM LACHRYKIB ET OPOBALSAMO CDDM." VuU
Antiq. Explanat. torn. V. Part. Prim. cap. 7. p. 117. Paris, 1710.
Sometimes the vessels found in antient sepulchres are of such dimi-
nutive size, that they are only capable of containing a lew drops of
fluid : in these instances there seems to be no other use for which they
were fitted. Small lachrymal phials of glass have been found in the
tombs of the Romans in Great Britain ; and the evident allusion to this
practice in the Sacred Scriptures, " Put thou my tears into thy bottle,"
(Ps. viii. 8.) seems decisive as to the purpose for which these vessels
were designed.
sicyon. 543
anufacture, although perhaps nearly as antient. chap.
lien we first saw them, we believed that they v^v
id been made of pale unbaked clay, dried
ily in the sun : upon a nearer examination, we
trceived that they had once been covered with
red glazing, but that this varnish having been
tually decomposed, had almost disappeared.
ence some inference may be deduced as to
eir great antiquity ; instances being hitherto
iknown of the spontaneous decomposition of
e varnish upon antient terra-cotta vessels.
rery person, acquainted with the subject,
lows, that the most powerful acids produce
* effect whatsoever upon their surfaces, and
it some of the oldest terra-cottas yet dis-
rered in Greece are remarkable for the high
Tee of perfection and lustre exhibited by the
4 varnish upon their surfaces. The case
' be otherwise with the red varnish; and
aps the examples of pottery found in
ian sepulchres, and believed to have been
of unbaked clay, with surfaces which
ler beneath the fingers, having a pale
r aspect, may owe this appearance entirely
degree of decomposition they have sus-
The medals which we collected hereifadaii.
*d principally of the bronze coinage of
; having on one side a Dove represented
544 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, flying, and upon the other the letters 2, SI, or
2IK. Others were also brought to us of the
Roman Emperors : among these, there was one
with the head of Severn*: exhibiting upon the
obverse side, a boy upon a dolphin, with a tree.
The whole illustration of this subject may be
deduced from Pausanias: it relates to a fable
on which the Isthmian Games were said to have
been founded. The tree is the Pine which was
shewn near to the town of Cromion, as a memo-
rial of one of the exploits of Theseus. Near to
it stood an altar of Melicerta, who was brought
thither by a dolphin, and afterwards buried upon
the spot by Sisyphus ; in honour of whom the
Isthmian Games were said to have been insti-
tuted1. It is always easy to procure bronze
medals in Greece; but the Albanian peasants do
not readily part with those which are of silver;
because they decorate the head-dresses of their
women with these pieces. They may, how-
ever, be tempted by newly coined paras, which
answer the same purpose : we had accordingly
provided ourselves with a small cargo, fresh
from the mint. In exchange for this base but
shining coin, we obtained a few silver medals
of Sicyon, and one of uncommon rarity of Pylus
(1) Vid. Pausan. C&r. c. 1. p. 111. ed. Kuhmi.
s i c y o w. 545
in Elis. A single but imperfect impression of chap.
this last coin exists in the Collection at Paris.
That which we obtained exhibited in front a bull
standing upon a dolphin, with the letters VH Y ;
and for the obverse side an indented square.
Any silver medal belonging to these Albanians
might be bought of them for a few new paras,
not worth a penny ; but if paid in old coin, tljey
would not part with one for the same number
of piastres. Ibrahim, it is true, had a summary
way of settling these matters : by demanding
every thing d coup de baton, he shortened all
treaties, whether for horses, food, lodging, or
antiquities, by the speedy dispersion of all
whom he approached. For this reason, when-
ever we wished to deal with the natives, we
took especial care to send him our of the way.
After our return to the village of Basilico, we
dismissed Ibrahim with the baggage ; and the
people finding themselves secure from Turkish
chastisement, came round us with their wives
and children, bringing all the antiquities they
could collect.
We then set out for Corinth. As we de-
scended from the Acropolis, we plainly per-
ceived the situation of the gate to have been in the
fosse, above the place where the fountain now is.
Here we noticed the remains of the old paved
VOL. VI. N N
546 PELOPONNESUS.
way ; and saw upon our right, close to the road,
that the rock had been evidently hewn into a
square pedestal, for the base of some colossal
statue, or public monument. Thence we con-
tinued our route across the wide and beautiful
plain which extends between Sicyon and Corinth,
bounded by the sea towards the north ; a
journey of three hours and a half, over the
finest corn land in Greece, and through olive-
plantations producing the sweetest oil in the
Fertility of world. This district has been justly extolled
the Land. ... J J
by antient1 and by modern authors8. The well-
known answer of an antient Oracle to a person
who inquired the way to become wealthy, will
prove how famous the soil has ever been for
its fertility : he was told to " get possession of
all the land between Corinth and Sicyon."
Indeed, a knowledge of the country is all that
is necessary to explain the early importance of
the cities for which it was renowned. Both
Sicyon and Corinth owed their origin to this
natural garden : and such is even now its value,
under all the disadvantageous circumstances of
Turkish government and neglected cultivation,
that the failure of its annual produce would
(1) See the authors cited by JBarthelemy; A then. lib. r. cap. 19.
p. 810. Liv. lib. xxtU. cap. 81. Sehd. Arittoph. in Av. ?. 009.
(3) Wheier$s Journey Into Greece, Book VI. p. 443. Land. 1689.
CORINTH.
547
cause a famine to be felt over all the surround- cf^p*
ing districts3. w-v^.
Within a mile of Corinth we passed a
Fountain in a cavern upon our right ; formed by
a dropping rock consisting of a soft sand-stone.
Farther up the hill, and upon the same side of corwth,
the road, as we entered the straggling town
now occupying the site of the antient city, we
observed some Ruins, and a quantity of broken
pottery scattered upon the soil. The old city
occupied an elevated level above the rich plain we
had now passed. Upon the edge of this natural
terrace, where it begins to fall towards the corn
land, we found the fluted shaft of a Doric pillar
of limestone, equal in its dimensions to any of the
columns of the Temple of Jupiter Olympius at
Athens : it was six feet and one inch in diameter.
Close to this we observed the ground-plot of a
building, once strongly fortified ; that is to say,
a square platform fronting the plain and the sea :
on this side of it is a precipice, and its three
other sides were surrounded by a fosse. The
area measures sixty- six paces by fifty three ;
its major diameter being parallel to the sea-shore.
Upon the opposite side, within the fosse, are
($) a And its plenty failing, brings most certainly a famine upon thejr
adgnbonrs round about them." Wheler9* Journey into Greece, p. 443.
Xm&lftt.
N N 2
548 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, also the remains of other foundations : possibly
of a bridge or causeway, leading into the area
on that side. The remarkable fountain before
mentioned does not here guide us, amidst the
mazy description of Pausanias, to the original
name of this building. Corinth was full of
fountains ; there was no city in Greece better
supplied with water1 : many of those fountains
were supplied by means of aqueducts9. But if
we find a passage in Pausanias that seems to
2^51^ allude to the remarkable circumstance of a drop*
J£jJPh ping spring within a cavern, we may perhaps
succeed in establishing a point of observation
for ascertaining other objects in its neigh-
bourhood. An allusion of this nature occurs
where he mentions the water of the Nymph
Pirenef who poured forth such abundance
of tears for the loss of her son Cenchrias,
when slain by Diana, that she was metamor-
phosed into a fountain3. Even the circum-
(1) Kpj/vai Sk voWai /iiv ava ti)v v6\iv iwroitivrcu iraoavt&T*
afQbvov piovrbg oftotv Maroc. Pans. Cor. c. 3. p. 118. ed. XnA».
Bare H teal rwv fptartuv ti/wopia Kara rt)v ttoXiv. Strabon. Gsog.
lib. Till. p. 650. ed. Oxon.
(2) The Emperor Hadrian brought water to Corinth from Stympha-
lus, written Stemphylus in the edition of Pausanuu above cited. Vid.
Pout. Cor. ut supra.
(3) Men* rb aiirb ioobog kori trig UeiptjvrjQ Iq to Mvp. 'Exi &
airy Xiyovoiv, *g if Uiipi)vtj ykvotro vnb baicpvvr IK avOpvirov wirf*
rbv iralZa bivpofuvn Kiy%piav vicb 'ApripuSog aKOvoqs awoOavovra-
Paut. ibid. p. 117.
CORINTH. 549
stance of the cellular cavity whence the chap.
J . IX.
water flows appears to have been noticed by
Pausanias ; in whose time it was beautified with
white marble*. This weeping spring may there-
fore be considered the same with that which
he has denominated the fountain of the
Nymph Pirene : as it occurs in the road lead-
ing from Corinth to LechtBum on the Sicyonian
side of the Isthmus, precisely where that fountain
was situate. This point being established, we
might expect to make the fountain a land-mark
for ascertaining the relative position of other
objects. But Strabo has given the same name
to another spring at the base of the Aero-
corinthus: and Pausanias allows that this was
not the only fountain called PireneP. The
spacious area belonging to the fortress where
the Doric pillar lies, relates to a structure so
(4) Pans. ibid. The water of this spring was laid to be wuiv iJW.
Upon these words Kuhnhu adds the following note: " Unde ex hoe
fonte aquam petebant in ususdomesticos puelU Corinthiorum, uti patet
exetnplo Laidos adhuc puelUt vdpofopovatig curb rfc Uitprjvrjs ; lib. xlii.
Atheruci. Idem hie lib. ii. de fontu hujut aquA : <rraOpi)<rag rb &irb rifg
lp KopivOy Uiipi)vtic KaXovfiivtjc tifop, KovfSrepov t&vtvv tdpov
rmv Kara r$v *EXXa£a, quum ad libram exeoissem, Inquit, aquam
Phones fontis Corinthii,levissimameam omnium in totd Orsecia depre-
hmd" VUL Annot. KuhnU in Paus. lib. Ii. e. 3. p. 117. Zips. 1606.
(5) Vid. Paus. in Corinth, c. 6. p. 122. ed. Kuhn. Strabon. Oeog.
lib. riii. p. 660. ed. Oxon.
560 PELOPONNESUS.
long rased, that it may have been overlooked
by Pausanias, as it was by modern travellers
until our arrival : and if this be the case, it may
be a relic of the Sisyphium ; a mole, or bulwark,
not mentioned by that writer, but noticed by
Diodorus Siculus and by Strabo. As Chandler
has placed the Sisyphhim elsewhere, we shall
presently have occasion to say something fur-
ther concerning this structure. The Corinthians
had also a Hieron to all the Gods1, where there
was a statue of .Neptune with a Dolphin spouting
forth water ; but the water of the dolphin was
conveyed by means of an aqueduct, and was
not a natural spring2.
In going from the area of this building
(1) QioTq naoiv 'Iepov. Pausan. in Corinth, c. 2. p. 116. Ed. Ktihn'tL
(2) The carious marble discovered by the Earl of Aberdeen at Corinth,
and since brought to England, which was found covering the mouth of an
antient well, may have been the identical Hieron here alluded to by Pm-
sanias. The word 'If pdv, it is true, is translated Templum by Amatmut ;
bat it does not appear probable that this could be the author's meaning;
because he is actually speaking of a Temple (Tt>x>?c vabg), by which he
says the Hieron stood. Uapd H avrb 0<ocg iraoiv loriv Upov. It is
therefore at least probable that all he intends, in this passage, by the
word Hieron is the representation of the Heathen Deitiet upon the mar-
ble bas-relief that covered the mouth of a well by which the Temple of
Fortune stood. If all the Hiera of Pautaniat were to be translated
Temples, there would have been more templet in Greece than the whole
world besides.
CORINTH.
551
towards the magnificent remains of a temple c*£p*
now standing above the Bazar whence perhaps
the Doric pillar already mentioned may have
been removed, we found the ruins of antient
buildings; particularly of one partly hewn in
the rock opposite to the said Temple. The out-
side of this exhibits the marks of cramps for
sustaining slabs of marble once used in covering
the walls; a manner of building, perhaps, not
of earlier date than the time of the Romans.
Pliny mentions the time when this kind of orna-
ment began to be introduced at JRonuP. The
Greeks sometimes decorated marble edifices
after the same manner, but with plates of
metal4. In this building were several cham-
bers all hewn in the rock, and one of them has
still an oblong window remaining. We then
visited the Temple. It has been described by
all travellers for near a century and a half. In
Wheler'a time it had eleven Doric pillars stand-
ing5: the same number remained when Chandler
(S) " Primum Romse parietet crust& mannoris operoiue totiui dom&a
in Ccelio monte Cornelius Nepos tradidit Mamarram Formils
natmn, eqnitem Romanum, preefectara fabrorom C. CflBsaris in Gallia,**
PUm. Hist. Nat. lib. zzxri. e. 6. torn. III. p. 477. L. Bat. 1635.
(4) See the description given of the Gymnarium at Alexandria Troas,
in the former Section.
(5) See Wheler>s Jo urn. into Greece, p. 440. Lond. 1682.
552 - PELOPONNESUS.
chap, visited the place1. We found only seven
remaining upright : but the fluted shaft before
mentioned may originally have belonged to this
building, the stone being alike in both ; that is
to say, common limestone, not marble : and the
dimensions are, perhaps, exactly the same in
both instances, if each column could be mea-
sured at its base. When Wheler was here, the
pillars were more exposed towards their bases ;
and being there measured, he found them to
equal eighteen feet in circumference, allowing
a diameter of six feet for the lower part of the
shaft of each pillar. Only five columns of the
seven now support an entablature* We mea-
sured the circumference of these, (as we con-
ceived, about three feet from their bases,) and
found it to equal seventeen feet two inches.
Each column consists of one entire piece of
stone, but their height, instead of being equal
to six diameters, the tine proportion of the
Doric shaft according to Pliny, does not amount
to four. The destruction that has taken place,
of four columns out of the eleven seen by
Wheler and Chandler, had been accomplished by
the Governor, who used them in building a
house ; first blasting them into fragments with
(1) trar. in Greece, p. 230. Ox/. 1776.
CORINTH. 553
npowder. Chandler suspected this temple to chap.
ire been the Sisyphtum mentioned by Strabo* f
t without assigning any reason for this con- sjwm
ture. Nothing can be easier than an arbi-
ry disposal of names among the scanty relics
a city once so richly adorned ; nor can any
ng be more difficult than to prove that such
nes have been properly bestowed. The Sisy-
ft/m was a building of such uncertain form,
t Strabo, eighteen centuries ago, could not
itively pronounce whether it had been a
pie or a palace? ; whereas the first sight of
s, even in its present dilapidated state, would
re been sufficient to put that matter beyond
pute. The Sisyphhim was situate below the
ratain Pirene, and built (Acwcy A(0<p) with
Ite stone; an expression generally used to
aify marble, both by Strabo and by Pausardas.
5 present building does not answer this
cription. The Sisypheum is not once men-
led by Pausanias ; which could not have been
case, if its remains were of this magnitude.
» only antient author by whom the Sisyph&um
been noticed, excepting by Strabo, is
) *Yir& Zl r§ Utiprjvy rb ^KrOfuSv l<rriy, Upov tivoq, % fiaaSknovt
f\iOtf wtir(HrjfJuvovt(sic leg. Cataub.) liaoitTfiv Iptlwta ofc 6\lycr
km. Geog. lib. till. p. 550. ed. Oxon.
)lbid.
654 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. ZHodorus Siculus ; who describes it as a place
wrv^t strongly fortified, near to the Citadel1. As to the
real history of this very antient temple, the style
and the materials of its architecture have in-
duced some to refer its origin to the earliest
periods of the Dorian power in Peloponnesus.
We confess we are not quite of this opinion :
the disproportion of the length of the pillars to
their diameters, is with us an argument, rather
against, than for, their high antiquity. If we
may credit the testimony afforded by so late a
writer as Martin Crusius*, founded probably
upon tradition, this building was the Temple of
Juno ; and his statement agrees with JPausamas,
who mentions a Hieron of Buncean Juno*, below
the Acrocorinthics : but as it amounted almost to
a certainty, that so considerable a structure
must have been mentioned by the latter writer
with a more distinct clue as to its situation,
there seems to be no edifice noticed by him
with which it more accurately corresponds,
Temple of than with the Temple of Octavia, sister of
Octavid*
Augustus; unto whom the Corinthians were
(1) Diodor. Sicul. lib. zx. p. 480. ed. Wesseling.
(3) Mart. Cms. Turtograeia.
(3) Tavrtj icai rb rijc Bovvaiac ttrnv^Rpag Up6v. Pout. Cor. c. 4.
p. 121. ed. Kuhn.
CORINTH. 555
indebted for the restoration of their city : this
temple occupied the same situation with respect
to the ,Agora4 that the present Ruin does with
regard to the Bazar ; and it is well known, that
however the prosperity of cities may rise or
fall, the position of a public mart for buying
and selling usually remains the same. We do
not, however, bestow this name upon it; but
leave its history to be hereafter determined;
when future discoveries, upon the spot, shall
have made the antiquities of Corinth better
known than they are at present.
While we were occupied in examining this
building, and in collecting the different frag-
ments of antient pottery scattered among the
Ruins, the Governor sent to desire that we
would visit him. We found him sitting in aviiittoth*
.. , lit Go?ernor.
mean little open apartment, attended by one
of those French agents, who, under the name of
apothecaries, carried on, at this time, a very
regular system of espionnage throughout the
Turkish empire ; and especially in Greece. This
gentleman offered to be our interpreter: we
told him that we had with us a person who
(4) "Trip Si ri)v 'ArOPAN Iftriv '0KTABIA2 NA02, *.r. X. Pom.
Cor. c. 9. p. 116. ed. Kuhnii.
556 PELOPONNE8U9.
chap, always acted in that capacity; bat as the
Governor seemed to prefer the Frenchman, we
acquiesced ; and, after the usual ceremony of
pipes and coffee, a parley began. The firet
questions put to us related to our travels;
accompanied by many shrugs and shrewd sar-
casms as to the vagrant life led by Ujowrs in
general. All this was interpreted to us by the
Frenchman, interlarded with every scurrilous
epithet he could pour forth against the old Turk,
but bowing his head all the while with great
seeming gravity and decorum, as if he were
bestowing upon him the most honourable titles.
The Governor was evidently out of temper; and
presently the cause was manifest. " Your
Tchohadar has been here/' said he, " and tells
me you intend to take up your abode in this
place, that you may repose and take your caif1 ;
but you have brought me no present." We said
that we neither gave nor received mere gifts of
ceremony. "Then who are ye?" added he,
somewhat sharply. " English (Effendies) Gen-
tlemen," was the answer. •* Effendies truly!
and is it like an Effendi to be seen picking up
(1) Caify (or Kafy) is aliment or nourishment In Arab. Diet; bel
in Turkey y the word Catf is often used to denote enUrimmmaU or
comfort.
CORINTH. 557
pieces of broken pots, and groping among heaps
of rubbish V9 There was so much apparent
reason in this remark, and it was so utterly
impossible to explain to a Turk the real nature
or object of such researches, that we agreed
with the Frenchman it was best to let him have
his opinion9 and, passing quietly for paupers
beneath his notice, make our obeisance and
retire. This was the first instance, since we
quitted the Turkish frigate, in which ourjirmdn,
and the letter from the Capudan Pasha, had
failed in procuring for us a favourable reception ;
and we began to fear that among the Turks,
especially in the distant provinces, our creden-
tials would have little weight, unaccompanied
by bribes. Ibrahim, however, maintained that
it was all owing to his not being present upon
the occasion ; and desired us in future to make
no visits unaccompanied by him. A few cere-
monial expressions, and a little etiquette, were
alone wanting, he said; and perhaps he was
right
There is a considerable Ruin, consisting
entirely of brick-work, which may have been
a part of the Gymnasium. We were unable to
find the Theatre, or any remains of a Stadium ;
but close to the Bazar we saw part of a very
558 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, large structure, built entirely of tiles, or thin
w^w bricks. The people of the place remembered
Odium. * r r
this more perfect; and they described it as a
building full of seats, ranged one above the
other. Possibly, therefore, it may have been
the 0<Uumx\ unless, indeed, it were an Amphi-
theatre, or a Theatre raised entirely from the
ground, like the Coliseum at Rome; without
being adapted to any natural slope. When we
reached the house where we were to pass the
night, the author was again attacked with a
violent paroxysm of fever, and remained until
the morning stretched upon the floor in great
climate of agony. The air of Corinth is so bad, that its
inhabitants abandon the place during the sum-
mer months. They are subject to the malaria
fever, and pretend to remove it by all those
superstitious practices which are common in
every country where medical science is little
known. We procured some terra-cottas of very
indifferent workmanship, much inferior to those
found near Argos; also a few medals and gems.
There were no Inscriptions ; nor was there to be
seen a single fragment of antient sculpture.
Such is now the condition of this celebrated
(1 ) Vid. PauMan. Corinth, c. 3. p. 1 18. ed Kuhniu
CORINTH. 559
seat of antient art — this renowned city, once so chap.
vain of its high reputation, and of the rank it
held among the States of Greece.
We resolved to devote as much of our time
as possible to the examination of the Isthmus ;
for although but a small district, it had been
hitherto so imperfectly surveyed by modern
travellers, that the site of the Isthmian
Games had never been accurately ascertained.
Chandler, and his successors, had affirmed that
u neither the Theatre nor the Stadium were
visible*." The mischief arising from such
assertions is this ; that the persons who come
afterwards, being thereby persuaded that all
due diligence has been used in a research which
has proved fruitless, willingly avoid the trouble
of making any further inquiry. We shall pre-
sently shew, not only that remains of the
Stadium, of the Temple, and of the Theatre, do
yet exist, but that very considerable traces of
the Isthmian Town itself may be discerned ;
plainly denoting the spot once consecrated to
the Isthmian solemnities, which continued to be
celebrated long after the destruction of the
city of Corinth*.
(S) 8m Chandler" $ Tra?. in Greece, p. 243. Oirf. 1776, *c
(S) Vld. Pau$an. ibid. p. 114
CHAP. X.
PELOPONNESUS AND ATTICA.
Visit to the Isthmus — Remains of the Antient
Vallum — Canaloj 'Nero — Lechse um — Cinerary
receptacles in the rocks — Remarkable Tumulus
— Acrocorinthus — Ascent to the Citadel — Hiera
■ — Prospect from the Summit — Ilexamillia —
Discovery of the town oj 'Isthmus — Port Schceous
— Temple of Neptune — Theatre — Stadium—
Sepulchreqf Palsemon — TreesfromwhichVictors
in the Isthmia were crowned — Extraordinary
Mart for Grecian Medals — Dress •£■ ike
Levant Consuls — PandceanHorn — Cenchreae—
Bath of Helen — Convangee — Cromyon —
Manners
CORINTH.
561
Manners of the Peasants — Scironian Defile —
Boundary between Peloponnesus and Hellas —
K AKH SKAAA — Entrance of Hellas— Causes of
the celebrity of Megara — The modern town —
Inscriptions— Journey to Eleusis — Kerata —
JEleustnian Plain —Acropolis of Eleusis —
Marble Torso — The Flowery Well — Aqueduct
— Temple of Ceres— Statue of the Goddess —
Superstition of the Inhabitants — Inscription —
Sudden departure for Athens — Via Sacra —
Vast extent of Antient Thrace— The Rh£ti—
Eleusinian Cephissus — Salt Lake — Defile of
Daphne— The Rock called Poecile— Temple of
Venus — Monastery of Daphne — Hieron of
Apollo— View of Athens at sunset — Athenian
Cephissus — Site of the Academy — Arrival at
Athens — Negotiation with the Waiwode — Re-
turn to Eleusis — Method devised for removing
the Statue of Ceres — Difficulties encountered —
Success of the undertaking — Further account of
Eleusis — Long Walls — Of the Rharian and
Thriasian Plains — Temples of Triptolemus,
of Neptune, and of Diana Propyleea — Temple
of Ceres — Port of Eleusis — Antient Theatre
— Acropolis — Return to Athens.
XJpon the thirteenth of November we set out for chap.
x.
the Isthmus. Before leaving the town, there v^sj*^/
is a fountain upon the left hand ; and opposite to JJJJJS^*'
it there are the ruins of some antient building.
Soon after, we noticed another fountain upon
our right : and here may be observed the old
paved road leading from the natural platform
vol. vi. o o
562 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, whereon the city stood, into the plain of the
s^j Isthmus, which lies below this level. We de-
scended towards it The vestiges of antient
buildings are visible the whole way down. We
presently arrived at the neck of the Isthmus, and
came to the remains of the antient wall erected
by the Peloponnesians, from the Gulpk of Corinth
to the Sinus Saronicus. The ground here is
formed in such a manner as to present a natural
Remain of rampart ; but there are distinct traces of the old
va num. Vallum ; and we saw the ruins of a fortress, or of
some other building, at its termination upon the
Corinthian side of the Isthmus. The remains of
another wall may be also traced beyond this,
towards the north-east. Here we found what
Cuaiof interested us much more, the unfinished Canal
Hero
began by Nero, exactly as the workmen had left
it, in a wide and deep channel, extending n. w#
Uth*um. an(j s# E an(j reaching from the sea to the s. e. of
Lechceum, about half a mile across the Isthmus. It
terminates on the s. e. side, where the solid rock
opposed an insurmountable obstacle to the work;
and here the undertaking was abandoned. Close
to the spot where the Canal ceases, are two im-
mense tumuli1 ; and these, in the general sacking
(1) See the Vignette to this Chapter.
isthmus of cobinth. 663
of Corinthian sepulchres mentioned by Strabo*, chap.
seem to have escaped violation ; for their
entrances, although visible, appear never to have
been opened since they were closed, and are
almost buried. Beneath these tombs there are
caves in the rocks ; and one of the tumuli seems
to be stationed over a sepulchral cavern of this
kind. The remarkable accuracy of Pausanias
is perhaps in no instance more strikingly mani-
fested than in the description he has given of the
Canal ; corresponding, even to the letter, with its
present appearance3. We followed the Canal to
the shore. Here we observed that the rocks
had been hewn into steps, for landing goods from
the port towards the Canal and other works.
The remains of the Temple of Neptune are very
considerable. It has not yet ceased to be a place
of worship. We found here one of the idol
pictures of the Greek Church, and some antient
vases, although in a broken state, serving as
vessels and offerings upon the present altar.
There is a bath to which they still bring patients
for relief from various disorders. A short time
(2) Vid. Stratum. Geog. lib. viii. pp. 553, 554. ed. Oxon. 1807.
(3) Kal %9tv fik%> iiopvoouv rjpZavro, Srj\6v tarip, ic ti rbwtrptMic
oh wpoixmpiivav] <&px)?v. Pausan. in Corinthiac. c. 1. p. 112. ed.
JKvJbm. See also the Vignette to this Chapter.
O O 2
564 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, before our arrival, this antient bath was covered ;
^tv but wanting materials for building a mill, the
inhabitants of a neighbouring village blasted the
rocks; and these foiling into the bath, have
almost filled it. The water of it is very clear
and brilliant ; its taste slightly brackish, but the
saline flavour scarcely perceptible. It comes
out of the rock from two holes into the bath, and
thence foils into the sea. Great part of the
ruined buildings and walls about the bath were
carried off when the mill was built. At noon
we made the following estimate, by means of
our thermometer, of the temperature of the at-
mosphere ; of the water of this warm chalybeate
spring ; and also of the water of the sea.
Atmosphere, in the shade • 68° of Fahrenheit.
Water of the bath, in the shade, 88°.
Water of the sea .... 75°.
Cinerary All around this place are sepulchral caves hewn
Reoepta- *
cies iu the m the rocks near the sea, resembling: the burial-
Rocks. .
places in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; but
the caves here are much smaller ; and the re-
cesses within them, instead of being intended
as receptacles for bodies, were evidently niches
for cinerary urns1 ; a mode of sepulture relating
(1) There is an engraved representation of these Care* in Montfem-
eon's Antiquities, taken from the Travels of M. de Moncecnu: ; bat the
niches are inaccurately delineated, and they are filled with imaginary
urns.
PELOPONNESUS. 565
rather to the Romans than to the Gereks : whence chap.
x x
it may be proved that these excavations cannot ^
be more antient than the restoration of Corinth
by Julius Ccesar, and in all probability they are
of a much later age.
In the second century the inhabitants of
Corinth consisted entirely of the remains of that
colony which had been sent thither by the Bo-
mans2. The original race, with all their customs
and habits, had long been removed. In general,
we found three niches, placed in a row, in every
cave ; but in some instances the caves were double;
and within each of the chambers there appeared
a double row of recesses of different forme, pro-
bably adapted, in every instance, to the shape
of the vessel intended to contain the ashes of a
deceased person ; many of them being little
arched recesses, and others oblong rectangular
cavities suited to the shape of those cinerary
receptacles which have been occasionally found,
made of marble or of terra-cotta, modelled after
the form of a Grecian Soros, but of a diminu-
tive size. Several of these caves remain yet
(2) K6piv9ov dk otKotxTi KopivOiuv pkv ov8iIq in rwv dpgaiwi/,
iwoucoi H dtr* rraXivrcg vvb 'Putpalutv. Pausan. CorintfUaea, c. 1. p.
lU.o&.KuhnU.
566 PELOPONNESUS.
X.
chap, unopened ; and some are entirely concealed, the
entrances being either buried beneath large
stones, or covered by soil and vegetation.
We spent the rest of this day in the examina-
tion of the Isthmus, but observed nothing which
could be considered as the slightest indication
of the place where the Games were celebrated.
Chandler had evidently laid down the spot from
an erroneous conjecture1, founded upon the
observations of Wheler : and as he positively
asserts** that neither the Theatre nor the Stadium
were visible, it is plain he never visited the part
of the Isthmus to which Wheler has alluded3.
We determined, therefore, to renew our search
upon the morrow ; and returned to Corinth, to
enjoy the prospect from the Acrocorinthus at the
setting of the sun. From the place where the
work of cutting the Canal was abandoned, going
towards Corinth, the ground rises the whole way
to the old Vallum ; and there are tombs in the
whole acclivity towards the Acrocorinthus. Be-
fore arriving at the wall in this direction, there is
(1) See the " Chart of the Isthmus of Corinth" facing p. 234. of
Chandler'* Trav. in Greece. Oxf. 1770.
(2) See Chandler, ibid. p. 243.
(3) See Wheler'* " Journey into Greece," Book vi. p. 437. Loud.
1682.
ACR0C0B1NTHUS. 567
a lofty and very entire Tumulus, which is covered chap.
with a whitish earth and with stones. This, ^vw
owing to its magnitude and situation, it would m?twI
be very desirable to have opened. According lui>
to Pausanias, the sepulchre of Sisyphus was in
the Isthmus, although his tomb could not be
pointed out1. We crossed the wall again, and
observed in the more antient parts of it some
stones of immense size ; but where the masonry
was more modern the parts were of less mag-
nitude. We visited several antient stone quar-
ries which were very large ; all the hills to the
left were covered with these quarries : they
extend principally in a straight line, east and
west.
The stupendous rock of the Acrocorinthus, thus.
from whatever part of the Isthmus it is viewed,
appears equally conspicuous : opposing so bold
a precipice, and such a commanding eminence
high above every approach to the Peninsula, that
if properly fortified, it would render all access
to the Morea, by land, impracticable ; and as a
fortress, it might be rendered not less secure
(4) Vid. Pautan. in Corinthiac. c. 2. p. 114. ed. Kuknii. See the
Vignett* for the situation of this tomb.
588 PELOPomrBBus.
crap, than that of Gibraltar. It was therefore very
^v'w aptly named by an antient Oracle (and in times
when the art of war was incapable of giving to
it the importance it might now possess) one of
the horns which a conqueror ought to lay bold
upon, in order to secure that valuable heifer*
the Peloponnesus.
When we returned to Corinth, we found that
the Governor, who began to be uneasy at our
scrutinizing observations, and considered us
as nothing better than spies, would not grant
us permission for entering within the Citadel i
all that we could obtain was, a privilege of
ascending to the summit of the rock, as far as
the outside of the gate of the fortress1. The
Ascent to whole of this ascent, in the time of Pausanias,
the Citadel.
Biera. was distinguished by Hiera stationed at certain
intervals2, after the manner in which little shrines
and other sanctuaries now appear by the way
(1) Lusieri afterwards obtained access to the interior, through the
interest of the British Minister at the Porte ; but he was narrowly
watched the whole time : and during the short stay he made, under
the pretence of directing any improvement that might be necessary
in the fortifications, he observed no remains of antiquity, excepting
the shaft of a small pillar, which perhaps might hare belonged to the
Temple of Venue.
(2) Vid. Pausan* in Corinthiac. c. 4. p. 121. ed. Kuknii. 'Aviovtri
& £i£ tqv 'Kkqok6qiv9ov, k. t. X.
ACROCORINTHU8. 569
side, in the passes and heights of mountains in chap.
Catholic countries. A person unacquainted with
the nature of such an ascent, reading his cata-
logue of the different objects as they occurred,
might suppose they were so many temples, in-
stead of niches, shrines, and votive receptacles. In
the different contests which Neptune is said
to have had for the Grecian territories, one
was also assigned to him for the Isthmus and
Acropolis of Corinth : and as the watery god
disputed with Juno and with Minerva for the
possession of the Argive and of the Athenian
plains, so, in his struggle to maintain the sove-
reignty of the Corinthian region, he is fabled
to have retained possession of the Isthmus, when
the lofty rock of the Citadel was adjudged to
the Sun; a fable founded on no very dark
tradition respecting the existence of this moun-
tain above the waters of the sea, long before
they had entirely abandoned the plain of the
Isthmus. That the Peloponnesus had been once
an island, was not only an opinion of the Antients
concerning it, but a memorial of the fact is
preserved in the name it always retained3 of
(3) IIEAOIIOE NH202. (Vid. Strabon. Geog. lib. vil. p. 466. Oxon.
1807.) niXotrof pkv U rijg Qpvytac iirayofiivov Xabv tic rrjv Air'
ai»rovrXi|0€uravIIEAOlIONNH2ON,*c. r. X.
570 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. << the Island of Pelops." The antiquities, as they
were noticed by Pausanias\ in the ascent of the
Acrocorinthus, are as follow : two shrines of Ins ;
two of Serapis ; the altars of the Sun ; and a
Hieron called that of Necessity and Violence
wherein it was not lawful to enter. It is diffi-
cult to understand what was meant by this
last ; unless it were a place of refuge* like some
of the sanctuaries in Italy, into which it is un-
lawful to follow any fugitive offender who has
there sheltered himself from pursuit. Above
this was a Temple (vao?) of the Mother of the
Gods; a StiU ; and a Seat (0p<Jv©c) of stone. There
seem also to have been fanes consecrated to the
Parca, containing images which were not ex-
posed to view ; and near to the same spot, a
Hieron of Juno Buncea. Upon the summit itself
stood another Temple (vaoc) of Venus. In all
this list, there is mention made of two structures
only which can properly be considered as
temples; that is to say, the Temple of Venus
upon the summit of the rock ; and that of the
Mother of the Gods at some resting-place where
there was a seat, perhaps about half way up.
Fragments of the former will probably be
(1) Vid. Pausan. in Corinthiac. cap. 4. p. 121. ed. Kuhnii.
ACROCORINTHUS. 571
discovered by future travellers who have liberty chap.
to inspect the materials used in constructing v^vw
the foundations and walls of the citadel. All
that we observed, in going up, were the remains
of an antient paved way near the gate of the
fortress, and the capital of an Ionic pillar lying
near the same place. We reached this gate Prospect
just before sun-set; and had, as it is always summit of
usual from the tops of any of the Grecian moun- coHnthut.
tains, a more glorious prospect than can be
seen in any other part of Europe. Wheler calls
it " the most agreeable prospect this world can
give*." As from the Parthenon at Athens we had
seen the Citadel of Corinth, so now we had a
commanding view, across the Sinus Saronicus of
Salamisy and of the Athenian Acropolis. Looking
down upon the Isthmus, the shadow of the
Acrocorinthus, of a conical shape, extended ex-
actly half across its length, the point of the cone
being central between the two seas. Towards
the north we saw Parnassus covered with snow,
and Helicon, and Cithcsron. Nearer to the eye
appeared the mountain Gerania, between Megara
and Corinth. But the prospect which we sur-
veyed was by no means so extensive as that
(2) See u Journey into Greece;* Book ti. p. 422. Land. 1683.
572 PELOPONNESUS.
chap. 8een by Wheler ; because we were denied admis-
\#vv gjon to the fortress, which concealed a part of
the view towards our right. We noted, how-
ever, the following bearings by the compass
from an eminence near the gate :
North Point of Obme
Promontory.
North and by East . . Helicon.
North-East and by North, Summit of Gerania.
East North East . . . The Isthmus of
Corinth, lying e. n. e. and w. s. w. And
beyond it, in the same direction, the sum-
mit of dthasron.
East Port Schoenus ; and
beyond it, exactly in the same direction,
Athens.
North and by West . . Parnassus.
North- West and by North, Sicyonian Promon-
tory.
On Saturday \ November the fourteenth, we again
mounted our horses, and set out for a village
HexomiMa. still bearing the name of Hexamillia, being
situate where the Isthmus is six miles over, and
Discovery where the antient town of the same name for-
of the
Town of merly stood. We had been told that we should
be able to purchase medals here of the Albanians ;
accordingly, we provided ourselves with a
quantity of newly-coined paras, to barter in
exchange for them. When we arrived, the
number of medals brought to us, and their
573
ISTHMUS OF COR1HTH.
variety, were so great, that we demanded of the c j£ p"
peasants where they had found them in such «^v-w
abundance ? One of the inhabitants, who spoke
the Modern Greek, said they all came from a
Pakeo- Castro to which they often drove their
flocks ; described by them as being near to a
small port at the extremity of the Isthmus upon sck*n4s.
the side of the Chilph of Egina, towards Megara.
This could be no other than the Port Schcenus ;
and the mere mention of this important appel-
lation, Pakeo- Castro, filled us with the most
sanguine expectations that we should here find,
what we had sought with so much earnestness,
the site of the Isthmian solemnities. Such a
variety of coins belonging to different and to
distant States of Greece, all collected upon one
spot, could only be accounted for by a refe-
rence to the concourse so often assembled, in
consequence of the Sacred Games, from all parts
of Hellas and of Peloponnesus. We therefore
took one of the peasants as our guide to the
Pakeo- Castro ; and leaving the others to collect
medals from the different cottages, promised to
return in the evening, and to purchase all they
might be able to procure. Antient stone quar-
ries are numerous in the hills above Hexamillia.
Beyond this village, towards Mount Oneius,
574 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, which rises to the north of Schtenus Port, we
thought we observed the form of an antient
Theatre, of which nothing but the Cation exists ;
neither a seat nor a stone remaining. We then
rode directly towards the port and the moun-
tain ; and, crossing an artificial causeway over
a fosse, we arrived in the midst of the Ruins.
A speedy and general survey of the antiquities
here soon decided their history ; for it was
evident that we had at last discovered the real
site of the Isthmian Town, together with the
Ruins of the Temple of Neptune, of the Stadium,
and of the Theatre1. The earth was covered
with fragments of various-coloured marble, grey
granite, white limestone, broken pottery, dis-
jointed shafts, capitals, and cornices. We
observed part of the fluted shaft of a Doric
column, which was five feet in diameter. A
more particular examination was now neces-
sary ; and we proceeded immediately to trace
the different parts of this scene of desolation,
and to measure them in detail.
We began first to mark, with as much precision
(I) Vid. Pauttm. in CoriirfA.cap. 1 &2. pp.111. 112, 113, 114. fid.
Kuhnii.
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 575
as possible, the site of these Ruins, with re- chap.
ference to other objects, that future travellers v***^
(in direct contradiction to the statement made
by Chandler) may be guided to the spot, and
become satisfied of their existence. The best
method of finding their precise situation is to
attend to the course of the wall which traverses
the Isthmus ; for this, if it be traced from the
Corinthian Gulph, will be found to make a sudden
turn before it reaches the shore of the Sinus
Saronicus,znd to bear away towards MonnlOneius,
embracing the whole of the Port of Schcenus, and
closing it in upon the Corinthian side. The ruins
of the Temple, Stadium, Theatre, together with
wells, and other indications of the Isthmian Town,
surround this port ; and they are, for the most
part, situate upon its sides, sloping towards
the sea. The remains of the Temple of iVep tone Temple of
are to the west of the Isthmian Wall; upon an tptvne*
area which is two hundred and seventy-six
paces in length, and sixty-four in breadth*
A Greek Chapel, also in a ruined state, now
stands upon the area of the temple ; and this
seems to have been the identical building men-
tioned by Wheler, near to which he found the
Inscription published by him, relative to many
edifices, not mentioned by Pausanias, that
were repaired by Publxus Licinius Priscus
576 PBL0P0NNB8US.
chap. Juventianus1. Indeed it is wonderful, considering
the notice given by him of the Ruins here, that
the site of them should afterwards he lost.
The materials of the temple are of a white
limestone2 ; and the workmanship of the capitals,
the fluting of the columns, and of other orna-
mental parts of the structure, are extremely
beautiful. Not a single pillar remains erect:
the columns, with their entablatures, have all
fallen. The building, by its ruins, appears to
have been of the Corinthian order ; but there are
remains of other edifices in its neighbourhood,
where the Doric order may be observed, and
where the columns are of greater magnitude
than at this temple. We measured some of die
shafts of columns here that were only two feet
nine inches in diameter: and this agrees with
a remark made by Pausanias, who states that
the dimensions of the Temple were not extra-
ordinary3. The capitals are for the most part
destitute of the rich foliage of the acanthus,
although finished with exquisite taste and in
(1) "Journey into Greece," Book vi. p. 438. LoncL 1682.
(2) Called by Pausanias XiOoc Xevcoc (vid. p. 112. Cormthiae. c h
ed. Kuhnii) ; but this is an expression often applied by him where
marble has been used.
(3) T<fi vai$ 8k ovti fiiyt9o£ ov /m'£ovi, k. r. X. Ibid.
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 577
the most masterly style of sculpture. Among chap.
seven or eight of these capitals, we found only * ¥ * '
one with the acanthus ornament : yet the edges
of the canelure upon all the shafts of t\\e
columns at this temple were flattened, and not
sharp as in much larger pillars which we
observed higher up towards the wall. We
found also a pedestal, which measured at its
base four feet and four inches. The fallen
architraves and other parts of the entablature
also remain. To the south wall of the area of
the Temple adjoined the Theatre ; the Coilon of Theatre.
which, almost filled and overwhelmed by the
ruins of the Temple and by the effect of earth-
quakes, yet remains, facing the Port Schcenus.
West of the Theatre is the Stadium4, at right stadium.
. angles to the Isthmian Wall : it has very high
sides ; and even in its present state, the stone
front- work and some of the benches remain
at its upper end, although earthquakes or
torrents have forced channels into the arena.
It extends east and west, parallel to one side of
the area of the Temple, to which it was adjoined.
Just at the place where the Isthmian Wall joins
(4) Ota? U ahrWt &l%a tVn plv GEATPON, fore *£ £TA A10N XiOov
Xivkov. PauHtn. in Corinth, c. 1. p. 112 ed. Kuhnii,
VOL VI. P P
578 PELOPOHNE8US.
. chap. Mount Oneitcs, is a Tumulus, perhaps that which
i^v^ was supposed to contain the body of Mbu-
BtpnU certes ; in honour of whose burial the Isthmian
ehre of 7
Paiamon. Games were instituted, above thirteen hundred
years before the Christian sera. It stands oa a
very conspicuous eminence above the wall,
which here passes towards the south-south-east,
quite to the port, after reaching the mount.
There was within the sacred Peribohis, ac-
cording to Pausaniaf, a temple dedicated to
Melicertes, under his posthumous name of
Pakemon* ; and it contained statues of the boy
and of his mother Leucothea, and of Neptune.
The situation, therefore, of the Tomb, being
almost contiguous with the Peribolus, is very
remarkable; the whole of these magnificent
structures, the Temples, the Theatre, the Sta-
dium, and the Isthmia themselves, having
originated in the honours paid to his sepulchre*
Going from the Stadium towards this wall, we
found fragments of Doric columns, whose shafts
were near six feet in diameter; the edges of
the canelure being sharp : these were of the
(1) Vid. Pautan in Corinthiac. c. 2. p. US. ed. Kuhnii.
(2) 'EUvtxMvrog Si Lg rbv KopivBiw 'leQfiby vicb BiXfivoQ («C
Xkytrat) rov irattbc, rt/iai cat aXkai rif MEAIKEPTHI tiiZovrai pt~
rovofia<r9ipri IIAAAIMONI, icai TON 'I2GMIQN En' AYTQI TON
ATQNA ArOYZI. Pausan. Attica, c. 44. p. 108. ed. KuhniL
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 579
same white limestone as the rest. But among all chap.
die remains here, perhaps the most remarkable,
as corresponding with the indications left us by JJSi vE
Pausanias of the spot, is the living family of gjjjjjjjj*
those Pine-trees, sacred to Neptune, which, W€fe _,
* crowned.
he says, grew in a right line, upon one side, in
die approach to the Temple; the statues of
victors in the Games being upon the other side3.
Many of these, self sown, are seen on the
outside of the wall, upon the slope of the land
feeing the port4. They may also be observed
farther along the coast; exactly corresponding
with a remark made by the same author, who
relates, that in the beginning of the Isthmus
there were Pine-trees, to which the robber Sims
used to bind his captives5. Every thing con-
spires to render their appearance here parti-
cularly interesting: the victors in the Isthmia
were originally crowned with garlands made
of their leaves, although chaplets of parsley
(9) 'EXflfvri it ig rod Btov rb hpbv, rovro piv AQknrSv vurnoavruv
ri'loffua iarfyuunr tuc6v*ct towt* ii DITTON AENAPA ivrl *t}v-
rtvfiiva Ixi oroixpv rd reXAd ig tv6v avr&v avijKovra. Pausaiu
Corinth, e. 1. p. 112. ed. Kuhnti.
(4) This pins is a tariety of the Pinus tytoettrit, commonly called
PvmM wutritima. Wheler called these trees " Sea Pines with small
cones." See Journey into Greece, p. 446. Lond, 1682.
(fi)Vid. P tutsan, ibid. p. HI.
P P 2
580 PELOPONNESUS. '
chap, were afterwards used instead of them1 : they
are particularly alluded to by Pausanias, as one
of the characteristic features of the country:
and that they were regarded with a superstitious
veneration to a late age, appears from the
circumstance of their being represented upon
the Greek colonial medals, struck in honour of
the Roman Emperors. Allusion was made in
the last Chapter to a bronze mdal found at
Sicyony whereon one of these trees is represented
with the boy Melicertes upon a dolphin.
The vicinity of these Ruins to the sea has
very much facilitated the removal of many
valuable antiquities, as materials for building;
the inhabitants of all the neighbouring shores
having long been accustomed to resort hither,
as to a quarry : but no excavatious have hitherto
taken place. Persons have been recently sent
from England to carry on researches, by digging
upon the site of the antient cities and temples
of Greece, and it may therefore be hoped that
this spot will not remain long neglected. There
is no part of the country which more especially
(1 ) Archbishop Potter observes, that "the use of parsley was after-
wards left off, and the Pine-tree came again into request ; which altera-
tion Plutarch has accounted for in the fifth book of hb SymporiaM*
(Queest. 3.) A rcJueologia, vol. I. c. $5. p. 467. land. 1 751 .
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 581
requires this kind of examination. The con-
course to the Isthmia was of such a nature,
and continued for so many ages, that if there
be a place in all Greece likely to repay the labour
and the expense necessary for such an under-
taking, it is the spot where these splendid
solemnities were held. Indeed this has been
already proved, in the quantity of medals found
continually by the peasants of Hexamillia among
the Ruins here : and the curious Inscription
which Wheler discovered lying upon the area of
the temple9 affords reasonable ground for be-
lieving that many other documents, of the
same nature, might be brought to light with
very little difficulty.
In returning from the site of these antiquities
to Hexamillia, we observed several tombs by the
side of the old road which led from Corinth to
the town of Isthmus, exactly similar to the
mounds we had seen in Kuban Tahtary. This
primeval mode of burial, originally introduced
into Greece by the Titan- Celts, continued in use
among the Corinthians ; for Pausanias, speaking
of the antient inhabitants, says, that they
(a) See Whder'i "Journey into Greece" Book ?i. p. 438.
GB0I2 • 1IATPI0IS ' KAI • THI • DATPIAI • «r. r. X.
582 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, interred their dead always beneath a heap of
* v — > earth.
As soon as we arrived at tfexamillia, the inha-
bitants of both sexes, and of all ages, tempted
by the sight which they had already gained of
the new paras, flocked around us, bringing car-
pets for us to sit upon in the open air ; and a
S^Mart" very curious market was opened for the sale of
M^oT™ a B^nS^e commodity ; namely, the antient medal*
found at different times among the Ruins we
had visited. The young women wore several
silver medal* mixed with base coin, as orna-
ments, in a kind of cap upon their foreheads,
and among their hair. These they were not very
willing to dispose of ; but the temptation offered
by the shining paras was not to be resisted, and
we bought almost all we saw. The bronze
coins were in great number : but we obtained
many very curious medals in silver ; and among
these, the most antient of the city of Corinth, in
rude globular forms, exhibiting the head of
Pallas in front, within a square indented cavity ;
and upon their obverse sides, those antique
figures of Pegasus, in which the wings of the
horse are inflected towards the mane. The
medals with this die have been sometimes con-
founded with those of Sicily; but we obtained
\
\
\
\
CORINTH. 583
one on which appeared, in Roman characters,
the letters cor. One of the most curious
things which we noticed among our acquisi~
tions, was an antient forgery ; a base coin of
Corinth, made of brass, and silvered over. The
others consisted of silver and bronze medals, of
Alexander the Great ; of Phocis ; of Tanagra in
Bcsotia; oiMegara; of A lea in Arcadia ; Argos;
Sicyon; JEgina ; and Chalcis; together with *
few Roman coins, and some of less note. We
were surprised by not finding among them any
of Athens ; which are common enough elsewhere.
When we had concluded our business in Hexa-
mUlia, we returned again to Corinth ; and saw,
in our road, the remains of some buildings,
evidently Moman, from the appearance of the
opus reticulatum in the masonry : among these
was the Ruin of a large structure, which seemed
to have been an aqueduct.
It was late when we reached our quarters.
Two of the Levant Consuls sate with us during
the evening. Their uniform combines, in aj)^^
singular manner, the habits of Eastern and^^*1
Western nations : it is a long dress, with a
three-cornered hat, a bag-wig, and an anchor
on the button of the hat.
i
584 PELOPONNESUS.
On Sunday, November the fifteenth, there was
a fair in Corinth. We saw nothing worth
Hon. notice, except an Arcadian pipe, upon which a
shepherd was playing in the streets. It was
perfectly Pandcean ; consisting simply of a goat's
horn, with five holes for the fingers, and a
small aperture at the end for the mouth. It is
exceedingly difficult to produce any sound what-
ever from this small instrument ; but the shep-
herd made the air resound with its shrill notes :
and we bought his pipe. This day we left
Corinth entirely. The Bey positively refused to
allow us to proceed by land to Megara : we
therefore engaged with a couple of men who
had a boat stationed in the harbour of Cenckrem,
to take us along the coast. In our way to that
harbour, we again visited the village of Hexa-
millia ; and, after passing the same, we per-
ceived that the Stone Quarries, the remains of
the Isthmian Wall, and of the Town of Isthmus
at its eastern extremity, are seen forming a high
ridge upon the left hand, parallel to the moun-
tains upon the right. The Remains at Cen-
Cenchre*. cHREiE faithfully correspond with the descrip-
tion given by Pausanias of the place1. We
(1) Vid. Pausan. in Corinth, c. 2. p. 114. ed. Kuhn. — The place U
now called by its antient name, pronounced Cenehru
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 585
visited the Bath of Helen : it is formed by a chap.
spring, which here boils up with force enough wyJ
to turn a mill close to the sea. We found no muZ
difference of temperature, whether the thermo-
meter were placed in the water of this spring,
or in the sea, or exposed in the shade to the
air of the atmosphere at mid-day. The three
trials gave exactly the same result ; — 64° of
Fahrenheit. The men we had hired did not
return from the fair : so, after waiting for
some time, we procured another boat, and went
to a village, the name of which was pronounced
Convangef, where we passed the night. The Convange*.
next morning, at sun-rise, we embarked
again. The wind proved contrary. We landed
and reached a miserable hamlet, consisting only
of six houses, called Carneta or Canetto, upon
the site of the antieat Cromyon. Its wretched Cnm^on'
inhabitants, a set of sickly-looking people,
in the midst of very bad air, had never seen a
glove, and expressed the utmost astonishment at
seeing a person take one off his hand. Notwith-
standing the insalubrity of the situation, and the
unhealthy looks of the people, there was no
(9) This, in all probability, it very remote from the manner in
which this word ought to be written. If it be a Greek name, the V la
always p.
586 PBLOPOHNESU*.
chap, appearance of poverty or misery within their cot-
tages. The houses, like those of the Albanians
in general, were very neat, although the cattle
lodged with their owners beneath the same
Kanom The resemblance which the Albanians bear to
ofthe Pea-
ts, the Highlanders of Scotland, in their dress, habits,
and mode of life, is said to be very striking in
a land which is more peculiarly their own1, and
where their employments are less agricultural
than in the Morea ; but even here we could not
avoid being struck with appearances, forcibly
calling to mind the manners and customs we
had often witnessed among Caledonian heaths
and mountains. The floors were all of earth ;
and instead of chimnies there waa in every
cottage a hole through the roof ; but the walls
were neatly white-washed, and the hard earthen
floors were swept, and made as clean as pos-
sible. Every house had its oven, which was
kept remarkably clean ; and the whitest bread
(1) There if an observation upon this subject by Lord Byron, ia
the Note* to hit deathless Poem, " Child* HoroUt* Pilgrimages' " The
ArnaouiSy or Albanesey struck me forcibly by their resemblance to the
Highlanders of Scotland, in dress, figure, and manner of living. Their
very mountains seemed Caledonian, with a kinder climate. The kilt,
though white ; the spare, active form ; their dialect, Celtic in its
sound ; and their hardy habits, all carried me back to Morveo." CkUde
VaroUTs Pilgrimage, Notes to Canto II. p. 125. hand. 1812.
ISTHMUS OF CORINTH. 587
was set before us, with the richest and most chap.
highly-flavoured honey. The fire being kindled
in the middle of the floor, the peasants form a
circle around it, sitting or lying with their feet
towards the hearth. Their conversation is
cheerful and animated; and, as it was inter-
preted to us, it seemed to be filled with as
lively sallies of wit against the faults of their
Governors, as it is usual to hear among nations
boasting of the freedom they enjoy. We could
not hear of any antiquities in the neighbour-
hood ; nor did we expect even a tradition of the
Crovtyoman sow, or any other exploit of Theseus
in the Straits of Peloponnesus, among a people
who are not the indigenous inhabitants of the
country. A single black terra-cotta vessel, of
small size, and shaped like a bottle, found in
some sepulchre, near the place, was the only
relic of antient Crotnyon that we were able to
procure.
Monday, November the sixteenth, the wind
continuing still contrary, we hired asses, and
determined to proceed by land : being now safe
from interruption on the part of the Governor
of Corinth, and relying upon the Albanians for
protection, who are generally considered as the
only persons exercising the Scironian profession
588 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, in these parts. At the same time, we sent the
%*w boat to Megara with our baggage. In our road
we saw a great number of those pines, or pitch-
trees, alluded to by authors with reference to the
history of the famous robber Sinis1 ; who, first
bending their stems to the earth, fastened his pri-
soners to the branches, soJhat when the trees,
by their elasticity, sprang up again, the bodies
tdro*- °^ *"8 captives were torn asunder. We passed
defile. under the Sciranian rocks : their appearance is
very remarkable, and likely to give rise to
fabulous tales, if they had been situate in any
other country. They consist of breccia, which
here, as in the Isthmus of Corinth, and indeed
over all the north of Peloponnesus, and in Attica,
lies upon a stratum of limestone. The breccia
of the Sciranian rocks presents, towards the sea, a
steep and slippery precipice, sloping from the
narrowest part of the Isthmian Strait towards
the Sinus Saronicus. It is so highly polished,
either by the former action of the sea to which
it is opposed, or by the rushing of torrents
occasionally over its surface, that any person
falling from the heights would glide as over a
(l)*E<m& Iri rov 'IvQpov rijc apxw*ZyO<*o XyrriiQ 21 Nil Xop-
fiavoptvoc KiTv*v?iytv Iq rb sort* fffac* Pmaan, Corimih. •. 1. p. HI.
ed. Kuhnii.
SC1RONIAN ROCKS. 589
surface of glass; and be dashed to pieces upon chap.
the "shore, or, in some parts of the precipice,
fall into the waves. The Story of Sappho has
given the name of " The Lover's Leap," to at
least a dozen precipices, in as many different
parts of the world ; and this is one of the
places whence Ino i| said to have precipitated
herself, with her son MeUcertes*. Hence also
the old stories of the dangers to which travellers
were exposed in the narrow pass above the
Scirotua Saxa, from the assaults of Sciron,
who, it was said, compelled them to wash
his feet, and then kicked them down these
precipices into the sea. Not only were the
rocks called Scironian, but the road itself was
named Sciron. It was said to have been
enlarged by the Emperor Hadrian; but we
found it to be so narrow, after we had gained
the heights, that there was barely room for
two persons on horseback to pass each other.
A lofty mountain above the pass, covered with
snow during the greater part of the year, is
called Gerao, the antient Geranicf. We had
seen it from the Pass of Tretus, near the Cave of
(S) Vid. Pmuaiu in Attic, c. 44. p. 106. ed. Kuk*ii.
(3) Wkeler *ays the modern name of Gerania it Pal*orxm*u See
Jour, imto Greece, p. 430 Ltmd. 1081.
590 PELOPONNESUS.
chap, the Nemeaan Lion, in oar journey from Mycena
a^J to Nemea. There is a town near this mountain,
called Calaverti. We soon came to the antient
Paved Way leading from Attica into Peloponnesus;
and arrived at the Wall and arched Gate, high
above the sea ; where, in the narrow strait, is
Boundary still marked the antient boundary between the
Pdopon- two countries. The old portal, once of so much
hellas. importance, in now a ruin ; but part of the stone-
work, mixed with tiles, which was above an
arch, yet remains on the side of the mountain ;
and beyond it, on the side of Attica, we saw
more of the old paved road. The place is
KAKH
skaaa. now called Katche Scala; a modern method
of pronouncing KaxH £*<$Aa, the Bad Way.
The defile was always considered as full of
danger to the traveller; and it maintains its
pristine character. The Turks never pass it
without the most lively apprehensions ; expect-
ing to be attacked here by banditti. Ibrahim,
that he might avoid this pass, had preferred a
tedious and turbulent passage in the boat with
our baggage. For our parts, we reposed so
much confidence in our worthy Albanians, that
we never bestowed a thought upon the chance
of meeting robbers ; and they liked our society
the better because we were not accompanied
by a Turk. Close to the Sdronian Gate we
ENTRANCE OF HELLAS. 691
observed a prodigious block of white marble* chap.
lying out of the road, upon the brink of the t ' j
precipice ; which had been thrown down, and
had very nearly fallen from the heights into
the sea. There was an inscription upon it, perhaps
relating to the widening of the pass, and to the
repairs of the road by Hadrian ; but we could
only trace a semblance of the following letters :
OA
oiONAiAenNAnio
At the place where the Arch stood, was perhaps
formerly the StiU erected by Theseus ; inscribed
on one side, "Here is Peloponnesus, not
Ionia;99 and upon the other, "Here is not
Peloponnesus, but Ionia.99 Having passed Entrance
the spot, we now quitted the Morea, and once
more entered Hellas1, by the Megarean land.
We began to descend almost immediately ;
and, as we had expected from the frequent
instances which characterize the Grecian cities,
we no sooner drew nigh to Mega r a, than the
prospect of a beautiful and extensive plain
opened before us, walled on every side by
mountains, but in this example somewhat
(l)"AbIfthmi anguttiii Hellas incipit, noitris Grecia appellata."
PHm. Hi*. Nat. Hb. It. c. 7. torn. I. p. 910. L. Bat. 1036.
592 MEGARA.
elevated above the usual level of such campaign
territories. From a view of this important field,
Seeded ft mu8t be evident that the town of Megara owed
Jtfeoora. *t8 celebrity more to its fertile domain, than to
its position with respect to the sea ; yet it is
natural to suppose that the inhabitants of this
country were fishermen and pirates, before they
turned their attention towards the produce of
the soil. Plutarch believed, that the fabled con-
test between Neptune and Minerva, for Attica,
was an allusion to the efforts made by the
antient kings of the country, to withdraw their
subjects from a sea-faring life, towards agricul-
tural employments1. Be this as it may : whea
both were united, and the convenience of a
maritime situation was superadded to the advan-
tages of inland wealth, it might be expected
that Megara was able to make so distinguished a
figure as she formerly did, in the common cause.
At the battle of Salamis she furnished twenty
ships for the defence of Greece ; and at PlaUtc
numbered her three hundred warriors in the
army of Pausanias. The city existed above
eleven centuries before the Christian sera ; and,
in the days of its splendour, it boasted it*
(1 ) Vid. Plutarch, in Then. p. 87. 1. 23.
MEQARA. 503
peculiar sect of philosophers. Its situation also chap.
with respect to Peloponnesus added to its conse-
quence ; being the depository of all goods in-
tended for conveyance over the Scironian defile.
As the traveller descends from this pass, it
appears upon a rock, which is situate upon the
edge of an immense quadrangular plain extend-
ing towards the left of the spectator ; the site of The
the present town being close to that corner of it Town.
which is towards the sea, and nearest to JEleusis.
Upon our left, just before we arrived, we saw a
large Tumulus, on which there seems to have
stood some considerable monument. The place
is much altered, even since Wheler's time ; but
the inhabitants retain many old Grecian customs.
We saw them roast a large goat entire, upon a
pole, in the middle of the public street. It was
from Meggra that Cicero, in his letters to A tticus,
desired his friend to send him two specimens of
Grecian sculpture. Formerly it was famous for
its earthenware ; and fine vases have been
found here by modern travellers : but we were
not fortunate in our inquiry after terra-cottas : wc
procured only a few fragments of a bright red
colour, beautifully fluted, that we found lying
among the ruins of the city. We had better
success in our search for Inscriptions : although iMtrip-
it may be said of Megara, (whose antiquities in
VOL. VI. Q Q
694 MEOARA.
chap, the second century occupied, in their mere enu-
meration, six chapters of * Pausanias description
of Greece,) that, excepting its name, it retains
hardly anything to remind us of its former con-
sideration. The first Inscription that we found
here was " in honour of Callinicus, Scribe and
Gymnasiarch." It was written upon a large
stone, twelve feet in length, placed in front of
an antient gateway leading from the city,
towards the sea. This is the identical Inscrip-
tion which Whcler has published8 ; and we dis-
covered it exactly as it was left by him. The
next is an Inscription which he did not observe ;
and it is much worthy of notice. We saw it at
the house of the Archon where we lodged ; it is
in honour of Hadrian, whose usual titles are
added. From the title of Olympius, once be-
stowed by the Athenians upon Periclef, and
answering to A 10 S, we are able to ascertain the
date of this Inscription ; which is of the year of
Christ 1324. It sets forth that under the care
of Julius the Proconsul, and in the Proctorship of
(1) Fragment! of the Lapis Gmchites mentioned by Pausamss
(Attic, c. 44. p. 107. ed. Kuknu), and resUgea of the " long waits '
were obserred at Megara by Mr. Walpoie and Professor Palmer,
(2) See Wkeler's " Journey into Greece," p. 434. ZcmeU 1682.
(3) Vid. Plutarch, in fin. Pericl.
(4) Vid. Corsini Fast Att. Dim. xi.
MBOARA. 595
Aisehron, this (monument or statue) is raised by chap.
the Adrianida to Adrian." 3".
TONAIZAYTOKPATOPAKAIZAPA
TPAIANON
AAPIANONZEBAZTONOAYMniON
nYOION
nANEAAHNIONTONEAYTQNKTIZ
THNKAINO
MO0ETHN KAITPO+EAAAPI A
NIAAIYnO
TWNEni MEAEIANIOYAIOYKAN
A TOYTOY
KPAnZTOYANeYnATOYTTPATH
TOYN
TOZA1ZXPANOETOYAA MOK
AEOYZ
We copied a few other Inscriptions ; but some of
them are already published8, and the others are
in too imperfect a state to be rendered intelli-
gible. The medals brought by the inhabitants
were few in number, and badly preserved6.
(ft) See Wheltr'$ " Journey into Gretee," p. 433, &c.
(6) Bronte coin*, with an entire legend, MBrAPEQN, ere in the
eoUeetton at Parii, exhibiting the bead of Apollo in front, and for
rererte tLyre; bot theie aeemed to have belonged to a dty of Sictfy.
The medab of the Attie Mtgar* exhibit in front the prow of a Mp;
Q Q 2 •■*
596 m eg a n A.
chap. Ionic and Doric capitals, of white limestone and
x* of marble, lie scattered among the Ruins^uA
in the courts of some of the houses. The
remains of the " long walls" which inclosed the
land between Megara and the sea, and con-
nected the city with its port, are yet visible ; and
within this district, below the present town,
some pieces of fine sculpture were discovered,
and long since carried away* Here is also a
Welly supposed to be that fountain mentioned by
Pausanias1, as adorned by Theagenes, and sacred
to the Sithnides ; near to which there was a
Temple, containing the works of Praxiteles. A
modern superstition belonging to this WelP
seems to agree with the circumstances of its
antient history, and thereby to identify the
and for their obverse, either a Tripod between two dolphins, or the 1*100
Dolphins without the Tripod. The author hut never seen a silver
medal answering this description; but as a proof that these are medals of
the Attic and not of the Sicilian Megara, it should be mentioned, that
they are found here upon the spot ; and the circumstance of his having
found them in abundance upon the neighbouring Isthmus of Corinth
may be olso alleged as presumptive evidence of the fact. The olden
medals of Megara that he has seen, exhibit two Dolphins in front ; and
for reverse merely a square indentation : and these were found by him
at HexamUlia in the Isthmus.
(1) "E<rr«& kv rij flroXii Kptjytj *ai ofuriv t^Koid/intrt Oeayiwnc,
*. r. X. rai ft£wp lc avrt)v pet takovpivov ZiQviSwv vvfif&v. Pausanim
Attica, c. 40. p. 06. ed. KuhniL
(2) See Hothouses Travels. p. 482. Lond. 1813. .
MEGARA TO ELEUSI8. 597
spot; which may be of consequence to future chap.
travellers, who visit Megara for the purpose of ^^^,
making excavations.
Thursday, November the seventeenth, we began journey
our journey from Megara towards JEleusis and
Athens, filled with curiosity to examine the
vestiges of the Eleusinian Temple, and over a tract
of land where every footstep excites the most
affecting recollections. By every antient well
and upon every tomb at which the traveller is
induced to halt, and to view the noble objects by
which he is surrounded, a crowd of interesting
events rush into his mind ; and so completely
fill it, that even fatigue and fever, from which
he is seldom free, are for a moment forgotten.
As we left Megara, we had a magnificent view
of the Saronic Gulph, and of the Island Salamis,
the scene of the great naval engagement, where
three hundred and eighty sail of the Grecian
fleet defeated the vast armament of Xerxes,
amounting to two thousand ships. The distance
between Megara and JEleusis, according to the
Antonine Itinerary, is thirteen miles* After tra-
velling half an hour, we observed, in the plain
upon our right, the remains of a building which
seemed to have been an antient Temple ; and one
598 APPROACH TO BLEUSIS.
chap, mile farther, we saw a similar rain upon an
eminence by the same side of our road. The
plain here is beautiful and fertile. When
Whaler passed it was covered with ammonia?.
Another ruin appeared also upon a hill a quarter
of a mile nearer to JEleims ; and a little beyond
this, upon the left, close to the road, we saw
two Tombs opposite to each other. Afterward*
we came to a Well, at which our guides stopped
to water their mules. Soon after passing this
well, we saw another Tomb, and many heaps of
stones, as of ruined structures, upon our lefL
The Reader, comparing these remains with the
account given by Pausanias, may affix names to
them according to his own ideas of their coinci-
dence with his description. An author would
not be pardoned who launches into mere con-
jecture with regard to any one of them. We then
began to ascend a part of the mountain Kerata,
so named from its double summit, and now
called Gerata. We saw upon the shore below
us a few houses, and an appearance as of an
antient MoU> projecting into the sea; yet no
author has mentioned the existence of any
(1) Journey into Greec*, p. 430. Lond. 1682*
BLBUSIfi. 599
maritime establishment between the two cities of chap.
Meaara and Eleusis. Hence we descended into the
Eleusinian Plain; spreadingout with indescribable Eieusinia*
beauty, as in the instances so often noticed;
the surrounding mountains seeming to rise out
of it : this was that fertile land which is said to
have invited the first labours of the plough ;
and where the first wheat was sown by the
instructions of the Goddess of Agriculture. We
had no sooner descended into it, than, turning
round the mountain towards the left, we found
the distinct traces of a Temple, and, farther on,
of another similar structure. We observed 9LArTM§>
of EleutU.
tower upon a hill towards our right ; and, soon
after, we saw lying in the plain the marble Marble
Torso of a colossal statue, which, with some dif-
ficulty, we divested of the soil that had accumu-
lated round it This torso seemed to be that of
a Sphinx, or of a Lion : the latter animal is some-
times represented as drawing the Car of Cares.
It consisted of the white marble of Mount Pen-
telicus. Still advancing, we perceived upon the
left the vestiges of a Temple, and a Well, at which
women were washing linen. This Well appeared
to us, in all respects, to correspond with the
situation of that famous Well, called 'AvOivov, or, JjjJ^
the flowery, where Ceres is fabled to have rested w$u-
600 E L E U 8 I S.
chap, from the fruitless search of her daughter Pro-
serpine1.
Arriving upon the site of the city of Eleusis,
we found the plain to be covered with its Ruins.
Aqueduct The first thing we noticed was an Aqueduct, part
of which is entire. Six complete arches are yet
to be seen. It conducted towards the Acropolis,
Tggfof by the Temple of Ceres. The remains of this
Temple are more conspicuous than those of any
other structure, excepting the Aqueduct. The
paved road which led to it is also visible, and the
pavement of the Temple yet remains. But to
heighten the interest with which we regarded
the relics of the Eleusinian fane, and to fulfil
the sanguine expectations we had formed, the
8?h* fragment of a Statue, mentioned by many authors
uoddeu. as that of the Goddess herself, appeared in
colossal majesty among the mouldering vestiges
of her once splendid sanctuary. We found it,
exactly as it had been described to us by the
(1) Wheler has placed this well farther from Eleusis, on the road to
Megara : and he mentions a small plain which he bettered to hare
been the Rharian, as distinct from Eleusis, (see " Journ. into Grater,"
p. 430. Lond. 1G82.) which we failed to observe. The Plain of Eleutii
is about eight miles long, and four in breadth. Wheler makes the
Rharian Plain, " a ralley only three or four miles jn compass."
E L E I) 6 I 8. 601
Consul at Nauplia, on thesideof the road, immedi- chap.
ately before entering the village, and in the midst -J^^
of a heap of dung, buried as high as the neck, a
little beyond the farther extremity of the pave-
ment of the Temple. Yet even this degrading situa-
tion had not been assigned to it wholly indepen-
dent of its antient history. The inhabitants of
the small village which is now situate among the
ruins of JSleusis still regarded this Statue with
a very high degree of superstitious veneration.
They attributed to its presence the fertility of sopenu-
their land ; and it was for this reason that they {Slbl! the
heaped around it the manure intended for their tent8a
fields. They believed that the loss of it would be
followed by no less a calamity than the failure of
their annual harvests ; and they pointed to the
ears of bearded wheat, among the sculptured orna-
ments upon the head of the figure, as a never-
failing indication of the produce of the soil. To
this circumstance may perhaps be attributed a
main part of the difficulties opposed to its
removal in the various attempts made for the
purpose, during the years that have elapsed
since it was first noticed by an English traveller8.
With regard to the allusions subsequently made
to it by other writers, as the author has already
(2) Sir George Wheler in 1676.
602 E L E U S I 8.
chap, concentrated every testimony of this nature1, it
will not be necessary to repeat them here.
It is sufficient merely to state, that this Statue,
consisting of the white marble of Pentelicus,
which also afforded the materials of the Temple,
bears evident marks of the best age of the
Grecian sculpture : but it is in a very ruined
state. A vein of schistus, one of the extraneous
substances common to the PenteUcan marble,
traversing the whole mass of the stone in a
direction parallel to the back of the Statue, has
suffered decomposition during the lapse of ages
in which it has remained exposed to the action
of the atmosphere ; and by its exfoliation, has
caused the face and part of the neck of the
Statue to fall off; but in the Calathus, which
yet remains as an ornament of the head, the
sculpture, although much injured, is still fine ;
and that it was originally finished with the
greatest elegance and labour, is evident ; because,
in the foliage of a chaplet which surrounds the
whole, a small poppy or pomegranate is repre-
sented upon every leaf, carved and polished
with all the perfection of a CamSo. The remains
(1) " Greek Marble*," Cambridge, 1809. To which may also be added
the testimony of Perry, as given in his " View qf the Levant," printed
in 1743.
ELEUSIS* 603
of the Temple have been described by almost chap.
all the authors who have mentioned the Statue ; v*0*/
and its dimensions are given by Chandler*. The
broken shafts and capitals of the columns lie
around in promiscuous heaps of ruin. We
sought, without success, the pedestal believed by
Whela* to have been the base of the Statue : but
we discovered the following Inscription upon a **"**?"
marble pedestal of no considerable magnitude.
HEZAPElOnATOY
BOYAHKMHBOYAH
TX2N+K/UOAH MOI
OA0HNAIONKAAYAI
ANMENANAPANKAAY
AIOV*lAinnOYTOY
AAAOYXHZANTQZeVTATE
PA KA A YAE MOZTPATOYET
rONONAUnPAEArOPOYA
nOTONONAPETHZENEKEN
" In humour of Claudia Menandra, the daughter
of Claudius Philippus, who had been Torehrheartr
at the Mysteries, the Senate of the Areopagus, the
Council of Five hundred, and People of Athens,
erect this."
(1) Tnvcfa i» Grmoe, p. ISO. Orf. 177S.
(S)j0me7inU>0rMor, p.4S6« Lomd. 1082.
(J04 ELEU8I9.
chap. We found also another, " in honour of one of
x ...
the Eumolpida" inscribed upon the same kind of
bluish limestone which was used for the frieze
of the Erecthhim at Athens, and of which the
Cella of the Temple here also consisted. The
stone being partly buried, we could only read
the following characters :
• •
EY MOAniAONAYKO Ml
AIABIOYENEAEYZINIME . . .
AAftftNENZA HQAETHZ
EYXEBEIAXENEKATHX . . PO. AX
« « * * *
EMIIEPEIAZ+AAOYIAZAAOAA ME1AZ
THZKAEITOY^AYEQZOYrATPOI
Upon a very large cylindrical pedesxal d
marble, before a small church now occsjyaf
part of the site of a Temple1* perhaps && d
Diana Propyl&a, upon the brow of ti*e LL1 «
fouud another Inscription : this was ofaserros a
die same place by Span, and it
published in his work*.
vly 5i« tb< Enfnrou: ivnt. Sv^ w. ~-(&f hxunai TCT
*» jn:>Ctfihct it *Sftf*. -i»-wi Mcrh^.* j., I:.
ELEU8IS. 605
We must now break the thread of our chap.
narrative respecting the Antiquities ofEletisis, by v^y-w
a transition as sudden as was the cause of it.
Having made some proposals to the priest of
the village for the purpose of purchasing and
removing the mutilated fragment of the Statue of
Ceres, and of using his influence with the people
to this effect, we were informed that the&e mea-
sures could only be pursued by obtaining a
firman from the Waiwode of Athens ; to whom, as
lord of the manor, all property of this descrip-
tion belonged. We no sooner received the
information, than we resolved to set off instantly
from Eleusis ; and endeavour to accomplish so
desirable an object, For the present, therefore,
our observations must be principally confined
to the subject of this undertaking.
It has been before stated, that Ibrahim, our
Tchohadar, was himself a kinsman of the Gover-
nor of Athens; the very person to whom an
application in this instance was necessary. This
man promised all the assistance in his power ;
«nd it was agreed, that the whole management
of the affair, as far as it related to the Waiwode,
should be left to his discretion. We gave up Sudden de-
the design we had formed, of remaining for the !Ttw °r
present at Eleusis, and set out for Athens.
606 ELEUSI8 TO ATHENS.
cfcAP. A part of the pavement of the Via Sacra is
*' still visible after quitting the site of the Temple
v%a saem. 0f Ceres, and the remains of several monuments
appear upon either side of it. The great ruins
of the Aqueduct are upon the left. Soon after-
wards, close to the road, on the same side of
the way, appears an oblong quadrangular base
of some fine structure, consisting of large blocks
of white marble, neatly fitted together. There
are other works of the same kind. Perhaps
every one of these might be ascertained, by a
careful attention to the description given of the
objects in this route by Pausankuf. Soon after
leaving JEleusis, the road bears eastward across
the Thriasian Plain, which is marshy towards
the sea ; and the Temains of the old causeway,
consisting of large round stones, overgrown
with rushes, along which the annual procession
moved from Athens, is conspicuous in many
places. Here we crossed the bed of a river
almost dry, and saw by the side of it the
vestiges of a Temple. Another superb basement
appeared in this part of the road, similarly
constructed, and of the same materials with
(1) *Iov<rt & lir* 'EXtv&iva Jf 'AOtiv&v, $v *A9ijvaXoi koXovciv o^v
Upav, c. r. X. Pausan. Attica, c. 36. p. 88. ed. KmhmL
ELEU8I8 TO ATHBN8. 607
that we had just noticed. We also observed chap.
the Ruins of another Temple, close to the sea, v^v^^
upon our right; of which one column yet
remained ; and some of the stones were still
standing. This district, lying towards the bor-
ders of Attica , in a very remote age constituted
the regal territory of Crocon*. But there is a
circumstance, connected with the most antient
geography of these regions, which does not
appear to have been duly regarded. It was
first pointed out by a learned ancestor of the
author of these Travels : and as it is of im-
portance to the establishment of an historical
fact, namely, the common origin of the Goths
and the Greeks, it may be here briefly stated; as
deduced from his observations and founded
upon the authorities he has cited* : it is this,
that the whole of the Eleusinian Plain, together
with a part of Attica4, were once included vutextent
within the limits of Thrace, whose southern Thrace.
frontier extended, as Thucydides informs us6, even
to the Gulph of Corinth. In the dispute between
(S) Vid. Pausan. ibid. p. 91.
(8) See the <' Connexion of the Roman, Saxon, and English Coins"
fcc. by WUUam Claris, M.A. Zand. 1767. pp. 65, 66, 67.
(4) Ti)v fitv 'Arrun)? o\ ptra E6/i4Xirov Op?ccf l<J%ovt Strabon.
Geog. lib. Til.
(5) Tkvcpd. 1. ii. c. *9. p. 100.
608 ELEUSIS TO ATHENS.
chap. Eumolpus the Thracian, and Erectheus king of
v— v-' Athens, the former laid claim to Athens1 itself,
as part of his father's dominions. The capitals
of these two princes were not more than fifteen
miles distant from each other ; and there was
as little difference in their manners as their
situation. This appears by the issue of the
war, which was so amicably concluded. The
terms were, that, for the future, the inhabitants
of both cities, Athens and Eleusis, should be
considered as one people9; that the religion
of Eleusis, the mysteries so long known, and
so much revered under that name, should be
received at Athens ; the descendants of Eumolpus
being entitled to the priesthood, and the family
of Erectheus to the crown8.
The HUH. Two streams of salt water, called Rhiti by
Pausanias, are described by him as the limits
between the Eleusinian and the Attic territories.
(1 ) Hygin. c. 46.
(2) Pausan. lib. i. 'Air b rov (i. e. E6/i6Xirov) EiffioXwUai KaXovvrai
Trap' 'AOrjvaioig. Diog. Laert. in prooem. p. 4.. Tkueyd. p. 496.
Hesych. et Suidas in v. 'EbfioXtriSai. These mysteries were supposed to
come originally from Orpheus. Twv 'Ektwiviuv rag nXtrdQ
'OP*EY2, avrjp 'Ofywijc, «fc rdg 'AOrivag Uopurtv. Theodoret.
Therapeut, u Eleusiniorum sacra mystica Orpheus, natione Tbrax,
In Athena* importavit/' See also Pausanias.
(3) Ibid. Clarke's Connexion, &c. p. 6G. Lond. 1767.
ELEUSIS TO ATHENS. 609
•
Before we .reached them, and near to Eleusis,
we had passed, as we have stated, the bed of
a river whose dry and pebbled channel was
almost exhausted of water. By the side of it
we observed the remains of a Temple before
mentioned, about an hundred and fifty paces
from the road ; and this stream was doubtless
the Eleusinian Cephissus of Pausanias*. As we Efeiufeum
drew near to the Rhtti, the road passes close to
the sea ; and here, upon our left hand, we saw
a small lake, which owes it origin to a dam that Salt Lake,
has been constructed close to the beach, banking
a body of salt w&ter : this water, oozing con-
tinually from a' sandy stratum, fills the lake, and
becomes finally discharged, through two channels,
into the Gulph. These appear to have been the
ducts to which Pausanias alludes under the
appellation of the Rhtti, which were severally
sacred to Ceres and to Proserpine : and there is
every reason to believe, that the lake itself is,
at the least, as antient as the time when the
Hiera of those Divinities stood upon its bor-
ders ; else it were difficult to conceive how the
fishes could have been preserved, which the
priests alone were permitted to take from the
(4) Paus. Attic, c 38. p. 03. ed. Kuhnii.
VOL. VI. R R
610 ELEU8IS TO ATHENS.
chap, consecrated flood1. It is hardly credible, that a
supply of this nature was afforded by any of
the shallow streams which might have been
found near to this spot, struggling for a passage
through their now exhausted channels. There
is something remarkable in the natural history
of the lake, besides the saline property of its
water. Our guides informed us, that petroleum
or, as it is vulgarly called, mineral far, is often
collected upon its surface ; which is extremely
probable, owing to the nature of the sand-stone
stratum whence the water flows, and to the
marshy nature of the land in its vicinity. Two
mills are now turned by the two streams issuing
from this lake. After having passed the RfUti,
we came to a narrow pass, skirting the base of a
marble rock towards the shore, and cut out of
the solid stone, having the sea close to us
upon our right hand. This narrow pass was
evidently the point of separation between the
two antient kingdoms of Eumolpus and Erec-
theus*. Hence, turning from the shore towards
(1) Aiyovrai H 01 'PE1T01 K6ptjgUpoi xai Aijunrpoc tlvar coirovc
t'x^C ^€ avr&v rolg Uptvalv lariv alptiv uSvoig. Paus. Attic, e. 37.
p. 91. ed. K uhii.
(2) According to the valuable work of Mr. Hothouse, it bean the
appellation usually bestowed upon such passes, of Kahe Scala—
the evil tray. See Hothouse's Journey through Alhania, frcp. 373
Lond. 1813.
»
ELEUSIS TO ATHENS. 611
the left, we entered a narrow valley by a gentle chap.
ascent, which is the entrance to the defile ofx^^^
Daphne. We perceived, that the perpendicular Dcfile of
face of the rock, upon the side of the road, had
been artificially planed, and contained niches
for votive tablets, as they have been before
described in this work. Such appearances are
always of importance in the eyes of the literary
traveller, because they afford indisputable proofs
of the former sanctity of the spot : and although
it may be difficult to state precisely what the
nature of the Hieran was where the original vows
were offered, it will, perhaps, be easy to explain
why these testimonies of Pagan piety distin-
guish this particular part of the Sacred Way :
the niches being situate near the spot where
the first view of JEleusis presented itself to the
Athenian devotees, in their annual procession
to the city. This seems to have been the rock
which is mentioned by Pausanias, under the ap-
pellation of Pcecile : in his Journey from Athens rhe j^
he mentions its occurrence before his arrival ^J
at the Rhiti, and at this extremity of the
defile3. After this we came to a wall, which
(3; T6 UouciXov taXovfievov 6pog, c. r. X. Vid. Pautan. Attic. C. 37.
p. 91. ed.KuhniL
R R 2
612 ELEUSIS TO ATHENS.
chap, is supposed to be alluded to by' Pausamas as
v^n^w/ marking the site of . a Temple of Venus1 ; and
^^ of presently, in the very centre of the defile,
we noticed a large antient Tomb%, and arrived
Monastery at the Monastery of Daphne, whose romantic
of Daphne. # f J r
situation and picturesque appearance, in the
midst of rocks and overshadowing pines, has
been a theme of admiration amongst all tra-
vellers. Part of its materials are said to have
been derived from the ruins of the Temple of
Venus, now mentioned. The Monastery itself
seems to occupy the situation assigned by
jj"2J£ *t Pausanias to a Hieron, containing the images
of Geres, Proserpine, Minerva, and Apollo ; and
which had been originally consecrated to the
last of these divinities*. We found the building
in a ruined state, and altogether abandoned.
Our Ambassador had already removed some of
the antiquities which the place formerly con-
tained ; but we saw some broken remains of
Ionic pillars of white marble, and other frag-
ments of architectural decorations, whose
(1) M*rd &l tovto 'AfpotitTTjG vaog len, Kcd npb avrov rfix°C apyAr
XiOutv Oiag alwv. Pautan. Attic, c. 87. p. 91. cd. Kuknii.
(2) Pau$aniat mentions the rafog of Theodectet, of Phaseliiat, and
Mnesithevs ; and other monuments remarkahle for their magnitude and
the magnificence of their construction. Ibid. p. 90.
(3) Ibid.
ELEUSIS TO ATHENS. 613
workmanship denoted the best age ofihe Grecian chap.
sculpture ; and in all the pavements of the v^v*^
Monastery there were pieces of the finest verd-
antique breccia, some of which we removed,
and sent afterwards to England. The remains
of a Theatre are also visible before leaving this
defile upon the right hand; and as the hills view of
ill • i Athent at
opened at the other extremity towards sunset, unset.
such a prospect of Athens and of the Athenian
Plain, with all the surrounding scenery, burst
upon our view, as never has been, nor can be
described. It is presented from the mouth or
gap, facing the city, which divides Corydallus
upon the south, now called Laurel Mountain,
from JEgaleon, a projecting part of Mount
Parties upon the north*, immediately before
descending into the extensive olive-plantations
which cover all this side of the plain, upon
the banks of the Cephissus. There is no spot
whence Athens may be seen that can compare
with this point of view ; and if, after visiting the
city, any one should leave it without coming
to this eminence to enjoy the prospect here
afforded he will have formed a very inadequate
conception of its grandeur ; for all that Nature
and Art, by every marvellous combination of vast
(4) See Hobhou$ty$ " Journey through Albania," Sec. pp. 370, 371
Land, 1813.
614 RLEUSIS TO ATHENS.
chap, and splendid objects, can possibly exhibit,
v^v^/ aided by the most surprising effect of colour,
light, and shade, is here presented to the
spectator. The wretched representations made
of the scenes in Greece, even by the best
designs yet published in books of travels, have
often been a subject of regret among those who
have witnessed its extraordinary beauties ; and,
in the list of them, perhaps few may be con-
sidered as inferior to the numerous delineations
which have appeared of this extraordinary city.
But with such a spectacle before his eyes
as this now alluded to, how deeply does the
traveller deplore, that the impression is not
only transitory as far as he is concerned in its
enjoyment, but that it is utterly incapable of
being transmitted to the minds of others. With
such reflections, we reluctantly quitted the spot ;
and passing downwards to the plain, crossed
^fJj^L. the Cephissus, and entered the olive-groves ex-
tending towards our left, over the site of the
Academy. Academy. If we may trust the account given
us by our Tchohadar, there are not less than
forty thousand of these trees ; the largest and
finest of the kind we had seen in Greece1. The
(1) The most beautiful wood perhaps efer seen in England is that of
Athenian Olive, when polished. A table made of this wood is in the
possession of the Earl of Egrenwnt. It has been cut from tome logs of
the
ATHENS. 615
air here is very unwholesome during the chap.
summer months, owing to the humidity of the %J^0
soil, and perhaps principally to its not being
properly drained. After descending from the Return to
defile of Daphne, we observed a large Tomb Ath€M'
upon our left : and before arriving at the site of
the Sacred Gate, there are two other Tumuli ; and
the remains of an Aqueduct may be observed,
extending in the direction of the Academy. The
Tombs are mentioned by Pausanias, in his
journey to JEleusis.
In the evening, we arrived once more in
Athens ; and calling upon our former compa-
nion, jLusieri, were hailed by him with the first
news of peace between France and England ; —
a joyful intelligence for us, as we instantly
resolved to pass through France, in our journey
home. He also told us of the valuable acquisi-
tions, in vases, gems, and medals, which he had
made in JEgina, after we had left him upon that
island.
The next morning our Tchohadar waited upon NegotIa.
his relation the Waiwode, and communicated to S^tf^
him the subject of our wishes respecting the teode-
the oliTe-tree, intended at fuel in Athens , which the anther's brother,
the late Captain Clarke, of the Braakel, brought to thif country.
616 ATHENS.
Eleusinian marble. After some deliberation,
the Governor acceded to our request ; but upon
the express condition, that we would obtain for
him a small English telescope belonging to
Signor Lusieri. This request opposed a very
serious obstacle to our views ; because it
became necessary to divulge the secret of our
undertaking to a person indeed in whom we
could confide, but who was at the moment
actually employed in collecting every thing of
this kind for our Ambassador; who had pro-
hibited the removal of any article of antient
sculpture on the part of his countrymen, ex-
cepting into his own warehouses, as an addition
to the immense Collection he was then forming,
in the name and with the power, of the British
Nation. Yet there was no time to lose : the
Waiwode might soon mention the matter himself
to an intriguing Consul, who paid him a daily
visit ; and then, (although the Statue were the
Waiwode's property, and, of course, the right to
dispose of it belonged exclusively to him) we
had reason to believe that our project would be
instantly frustrated. Accordingly, we made
Lusieri acquainted with the whole affair; and
our generous friend, disdaining every unworthy
consideration, not only resigned the, telescope
upon our promise of sending him another from
RETURN TO ELEUSIS. 617
England1, but very kindly undertook to present chap.
it himself to the Waiwode, and persuade him to
observe silence with the Consul respecting the
measures we were then pursuing. The desired
firm&n was therefore obtained. To complete
the whole, it was now necessary to apply to the
Consul himself, for the use of the ferry-boat
plying between Salami* and the main land ; as
the only means of conveying this enormous
piece of marble to the Piraeus, if we should be
so fortunate as to succeed in our endeavours of
moving it from its place towards the shore.
Such an application, as it might be expected,
excited the Consul's curiosity to the highest
degree: but after many questions, as to the
object for which the boat was required, we
succeeded in lulling his suspicions; or, if he
had any notion of our intention, he believed
that all attempts to remove the Statue would be
made in vain. A messenger was accordingly
dispatched to put the boat under our orders.
Every thing being now ready, we set out again
for Elensis : and perhaps a further narrative of
(I) Wc bad the satisfaction of hearing that he hat since received it
safe. It was a very fine telescope made by Banuden : and it was con-
▼eyed to him by the author's friend, Mr. Waipole, whose Manuscript
Journal has afforded a valuable addition to this work.
618 B LB US IB.
chap, the means used by private individuals, unaided
w^/ by diplomatic power or patronage, to procure
for the University of which they are members
this interesting monument of the Arts and
Mythology of Greece, although a part of it has
been already before the public, may not be
deemed an unwelcome addition to this volume.
Method The difficulties to be encountered were not
removing trivial ; we carried with us from Athens but few
ofCerti!" implements: a rope of twisted herbs, and some
large nails, were all that the city afforded, as
likely to aid the operation. Neither a wheeled
carriage, nor blocks, nor pulleys, nor even a
saw, could be procured. Fortunately, we found
at JEleusis several long poles, an axe, and a small
saw about six inches in length, such as cutlers
sometimes adapt to the handle of a pocket knife.
With these we began the work. The stoutest
of the poles were cut, and pieces were nailed in
a triangular form, having transverse beams at
the vertex and base. Weak as our machine was,
it acquired considerable strength by the weight
of the Statue, when placed upon the transverse
beams. With the remainder of the poles were
made rollers, over which the triangular frame
might move. The rope was then fastened to
each extremity of the transverse beams. This
EL BUS IS. 619
simple contrivance succeeded, yhen perhaps chap.
more complicate machinery might have failed :
and a mass of marble weighing near two tons
was moved over the brow of the hill or Acropolis
of JEleusis, and from thence to the sea, in about
nine hours.
An hundred peasants were collected from the
village and neighbourhood of JEIeusis, and near
fifty boys. The peasants were ranged, forty on
each side, to work at the ropes; some being
employed, with levers, to raise the machine,
when rocks or large stones opposed its progress.
The boys who were not strong enough to work
at the ropes and levers, were engaged in taking
up the rollers as fast as the machine left them,
and in placing them again in the front.
But the superstition of the inhabitants ofDlfficllUtoi
Eleusis, respecting an idol which they all re- tered-
garded as the protectress of their fields, was not
the Heast obstacle to be overcome. In the
evening, soon after our arrival with the firm&n>
an accident happened which had nearly put an
end to the undertaking. While the inhabitants
were conversing with the Tchohadar, as to the
means of its removal, an ox, loosed from its
yoke, came and placed itself before the Statue ;
620 E L E U 8 I 8.
chap, and, after buttjng with its horns for some time
against the marble, ran off with considerable
speed, bellowing, into the plain of Eleusis.
Instantly, a general murmur prevailed ; and
several women joining in the clamour, it was
with difficulty any proposal could be made.
" They had been always," they said, "famous for
their corn ; and the fertility of the land would
cease when the Statue was removed." Such were
exactly the words of Cicero with respect to the
Sicilians, when Verres removed the Statue of
Ceres : — " Quod, Cerere vioi^lta, omnes cul-
TUS FRUCTUSQUE CeRERTS IN HIS LOCIS INTERIISSB
arbitrantur1." It was late at night before
these scruples were removed. On the following
morning, November the twenty -second, the boat
arrived from Salamis, attended by four monks,
who rendered us all the service in their power ;
but they seemed perfectly panic-struck when
we told them that it was our intention to send
the Statue in their vessel to the Piraeus ; and
betrayed the helplessness of infants wnon
(1) Cicero in Verr, lib. 4, c. 51. The circumstances which attended
the removal of the Statues of Ceres and THptolemus from the Temple
at Enna, by Verres9 were very similar to those which opposed them-
seWes to our undertaking.— '\ffis pulchrUudo periculo, amplUudo safer*
/ui*, qvdd eorum demolitio, atque asportatio, perd\fficil'u videbatur."
Vid. lib. iT. c. 49.
E LEU SIS. 621
persuaded to join in the labour. The people had chap.
assembled, and stood around the Statue ; but no
one among them ventured to begin the work.
They believed that the arm of any person would
fall off who should dare to touch the marble, or
to disturb its position. Upon festival days they
had been accustomed to place before it a burn-
ing lamp. Presently, however, the Priest of
Eleusu, partly induced by entreaty, and partly
terrified by the menaces of the Tchohadar, put
on his canonical vestments, as for a ceremony
of high mass, and, descending into the hollow
where the Statue remained upright, after the
rubbish around it had been taken away, gave
the first blow with a pickaxe for the removal of
the soil, that the people might be convinced no
calamity would befal the labourers. The work
then went on briskly enough: already the
immense mass of marble began to incline from
its perpendicular ; and the triangular frame was
placed in a situation, that, as the Statue
fell,9 it came gradually upon the transverse
beams. The rope was then cut, and fastened
as traces ; one half of it upon either side ; and
our machine, supported by wooden rollers, was
easily made to move. In this manner, at mid-
day, it had reached the brow of the hill above
the old port; 'whence the descent towards the
622 E L E U S I 8.
chap, shore, although among ruins, and obstructed by
large stones, was more easy.
New difficulties now occurred. It was found
that the water near to the shore was too shallow
to admit the approach of the boat from Salami*,
for the conveyance of the Statue on board ; and
the old quay of JEleusis, which consisted of
immense blocks of marble stretching out into
deeper water, was in such a ruined state, that
several wide chasms appeared, through which
the water flowed. Across these chasms it
would be necessary to construct temporary
bridges, for which timber would be required ;
and even then the boat could not be brought
close enough to the extremity of the quay
to receive the Statue. Here the whole of our
project seemed likely to meet with its ter-
mination ; for it was quite impossible, without
any mechanical aid, to raise a mass of marble
weighing nearly two tons, so as to convey it
into the boat. At this critical moment, tf hen
we were preparing to abandon the undertaking,
a large Casiot vessel made her appearance,
sailing between Salamis and the Eleusinian coast.
We instantly 'pushed off in the boat, and hailed
her; and the Captain consenting to come on
shore, we not only hired his ship to take the
E L E U S I s. 623
Statue to Smyrna, but also engaged the assistance chap.
of his crew, with, their boats and rigging, to
assist in its Removal: / T-hi#e>. men worked with
spirit and* skill ; and made the rest of the ope-
ration a ffl^re ahmswi€gi£\%At- sunset, we saw
the Statue s.ta^^edl-at^^tery utmost extre-
mity of thK"^2r-fiSuf^*^a-;: *. v- .
*r\
EarljU^n the followiHg day, November the******
twenty -thbrdj4#fQ boats belonging to the vessel, taking,
and the Salamis ferry-boat, were placed along-
side of each other, between the ship and the
'pier; and planks were laid across, so as to form
a kind of stage, , uppn which the Casiot sailors
. might \.work the blocks and 'ropes. A small
cable ;**s:also warped round the Statue ; and
twelve blocks being brought to act all at once
upon it, the Goddess was raised almost to the
yard-arm ; whence, after remaining suspended
. a short" time, she was lowered into the hold ; and
the JBleusinians taking leave of her1, the vessel
sailed for Smyrna. Having thus ended the
narrative of our adventure, we may now con- .
elude our observations concerning the Ruins of
(1) They predicted the wreck of the ship which should convey it :
* and it is a curious circumstance, that their augury was completely
fulfilled, in the loss of the Princetta merchantman, off Btachy Heady
baring the Statin on hoard.
624 ELEUSI8.
chap. Eleusis. These have been since surveyed with
v^n/-w/ so much attention by other travellers, that we
Farther shall merely state sach things as. may perhaps
Bieutu. have escaped their notice. „ ••
Long It has been suppQSfcdi/fhat the.//.£cmy Walls'
of Athens, which axteficfod from the 'Acropolis to
the sea, and inclosed the! Pirdkeus, were a peculiar
feature of the Athenian city ; but thi^is by no
means true. Such a method of connecting the
harbours with the citadels of Greece, was a very
general characteristic of the manners of the
Grecian people, in all places where the Acropolis
was not actually situate upon the shore. This,
for example, was the case at Corinth : it may
also be remarked at Megara, and at +J$le%isis.
The Acropolis of Eleusis is half a mfte distant
from the harbour. Between the base of the
hill upon which the Citadel stood, and the sea,
this distance is occupied by a small plain ; and
from the number of ruined foundations, the
vestiges of temples, and of other Hiera, all jover
this plain towards the sea, we were inclined
to differ from Wheler, and from every other
traveller, by considering this piece of land as
the identical spot called Rharium ; where,
according to the antient traditions of Eleusis,
corn was first sown. The severe illness with
626
ELEUSI8.
chap. Upon or near to the spot which is now occupied
n-^v-w by a small Church or Chapel upon the brow
Temple of the hill. That of Ceres, built during the
administration of Pericles, by Ictinus the archi-
tect of the Parthenon at Athens, and mentioned
by Plutarch1, by Strabo*, and by Vtiruvwf, was
perhaps destroyed before the invasion of Alaric,
at the end of the fourth century ; and even
before the time of Pausanias in the second; as
it is not mentioned by him. But as Phidias
presided over all the artists employed to com-
plete it4, and the marble of Mount Pentelicus
was employed in its construction, it is easily
to be recognized in those Ruins among which
the Statue was discovered ; an area or pave-
ment, leading to it, being of Pentetican marble,
and still existing at the commencement of the
Thriasian Plain, upon the western side of the
EUwit. Acropolis. The antient port of Eleusis was
entirely artificial ; being inclosed by a semicir-
cular pier of white marble. Going to this port
from the modern village (which does not con-
tain forty houses), along the remains of the
(1) Plutarch, in Pericl. ?ol. I. p. 169.
(2) Strabon. Geog. lib. ix.
(3) Vitruv. in Praefat.
(4) Udvra £1 Siiiirt Kai irdvrotv £jrfo*oirof tjv avr<f 0EIAIA2.
Plutarch, in Pericl.
ELEUSIS. 627
northern wall, you come to the ruins of another chap.
large Temple, consisting of prodigious masses of «^-v^/
stone and marble. Here, then, was one of the
temples before mentioned ; perhaps that of Nep-
tune, being so near to the port. At a distance
to the right in what we have considered as the
Rharian Plain, is another considerable Ruin,
a part whereof is yet standing ; and the founda-
tions of other structures may be discerned.
All this plain, between the Acropolis and the
sea, is covered with the fragments of former
works ; and upon this side was the Theatre ; the Antient
form of which may be distinctly traced upon
the slope of the hill, near the southern wall
leading to the sea. Upon the summit of the
Acropolis are the vestiges of the Citadel; also Acnpotu.
some excavations, which were used as cisterns,
similar to those of other cities in the Pelopon-
nesus. Looking down upon the great Thriasian
Plain from the top of this rock (whose shape is
an oblong parallelogram, lying nearly parallel
to the shore), the back of the spectator being
towards the sea, the remains of the Temple
of Ceres appear at the foot of the north-west
angle ; and to the left of this, in the road to
Megara, exactly as it is described by Pausanias,
in the very beginning of the route, is the Well
s s 2
628 RETURN TO ATHENS.
chap, called by him* ivOivovt close to the foundation
of some Hieron or Temple. A little farther
towards the left lies the colossal marble Torso
of a Lion, or of a Sphinx, which was before
noticed in our arrival at Eleusis from Meqara.
Brtornto Having thus amply gratified our curiosity
with regard to the remains of this remarkable
city, and accomplished the object of our wishes
by the removal of the Statue of Ceres, we re-
turned in high spirits to Athens, to prepare for a
journey through Bgsotia, Phocis, Thessaly,
Pieria, Macedonia, and Thrace, to Constanti-
nople.
(1) 'Eripa ik 6ibc l£ 'BXivtrivoc Tpbc Msyapa dytu Tavnjv
IpXOiikvoiQTtjv btibvy tpiapk(rriv dvQivov KaXovfuvov. Pausan. Attica,
c. 39. p. 94. ed. Kuhniu
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
No. I.
TEMPERATURE of the ATMOSPHERE,
ACCORD1NO TO
DIURNAL OBSERVATION;
WITH
A CORRESPONDING STATEMENT OF TEMPERATURE IN ENGLAND
During the same Period :
THE LATTER BEIN0 EXTRACTED FROM A REGISTER KEPT IN THE APARTMENTS OP TBI ROYAL.
SOCIETY OP LONDON, BT ORDER OP THE PR ESI DENT AND COUNCIL.
N.B. The Observations during the Journey toere alwayn made at Noon ; thou of the
Royal Society at Two P. v.; and both on the Scale of Fahrenheit.
Obeerration on the
Scale of Fahrenheit
Where made.
Obterratton In London
When made. on the same day.
82°
Acre, in Syria, N. lat. 32°.
57' July 17.
66
82
Acre,
July 18.
69
83
Acre,
July 19.
77
83
Acre,
July 20.
73
82
At sea, off Mount Carmel,
July 21.
79
81
At sea, N. lat. 33°. 24'.
July 22.
79
81
At sea, N. lat, 33°. 48'.
July 23.
72
81
At sea, N. lat 33°. 40'.
July 24.
C9
032
APPENDIX,
p *w.
I.
Obeerratlon on the
Scale of Fahrenheit
Where made.
Ooterraikm la London
When made. on the tame day.
81
At sea, N. lat.
33°,
,6\
July 25.
71
81
At sea, N. lat.
31°.
32'.
July 26.
76
81
At sea, N. lat.
31°.
47'.
July 27.
72
80
At sea, N. lat.
31°.
59'.
July 28.
68
81
At sea, N. lat.
32°.
4'.
July 29.
66
81
At sea, N. lat. 32°.
July SO.
74
82
At sea, N. lat.
31°.
40'.
July 31.
72
81
r Off the mouths of the Nile
I N. lat. 31°. 40'.
' V August 1.
74
82
Aboukir bay,
August 2
74 .
83
Aboukir bay,
August 3.
63
83
Aboukir bay,
August 4.
71
83
Aboukir bay,
August 5.
68
83
Aboukir bay,
August 6.
72
83
Aboukir bay,
August 7.
76
83
Aboukir bay,
August 8.
73
85
Rosetta,
August 9.
68
92
Upon the Nile,
near
Metubis,August 10.
74
89
rUpon the Nile, near El-
L Buredgiat,
r August 11.
76
89
Upon the Nile,
near
Bulac
, August 12.
76
90
Upon the Nile, l
near
Bulac,
August 13.
70
91
Upon the Nile,
near
Bulac
, August 14.
71
91
Cairo,
August 15.
70
91
Cairo,
August 16.
70
93
Cairo,
August 17.
75
92
Cairo,
August 18.
73
91
Cairo,
August 19*
74
91
Cairo,
August 20.
79
91
Cairo,
August 21.
71
85
APPENDIX, N°. I. 633
Observation on the Observation in Londoa
Settle of Fahrenheit. Where made. When made. ou the tame day,
90 Desert east of the Nile, August 22. 71
i Pinnacle of the Greater!
t Pyramid of Djiza, jAugust2S. 69
91 Cairo, August 24. 73
92 Cairo, August 25. 7l
90 Cairo, August 26. 69
92 Cairo, August 27. 73
87 Cairo, August 28. 74
87 Cairo, August 29. 76
86 Cairo, August 30. 76
87 Cairo, August 31. 68
89 Cairo, Sept. 1. 68
90 Cairo, Sept. 2. 66
83 Upon the Nile, near Amus, Sept. 3. 69
84 Upon the Nile, near Machallet,Sept 4. 66
84 Rosetta, Sept. 5. 73
82 * Rosetta, Sept. 6. 69
81 Rosetta, Sept 7. 66
81 Aboukirbay, Sept. & 68
81 Aboukir bay, Sept. 9. 70
82 Alexandria, Sept. 10. 66
83 Alexandria, Sept. 11. 65
82 Alexandria, Sept. 12. 62
81 Alexandria, Sept 13. 65
81 Alexandria, Sept. 14. 66
82 Alexandria, Sept 15. 70
81 Alexandria, Sept. 1 6. 68
81 Alexandria, Sept. 17. 68
76 Aboukirbay, Sept 18. 71
76 Aboukirbay, Sept. 19. 69
634 APPENDIX, N°. I.
Obturation on the Oboarratioo la London
Seal* of Fahrenheit Whan mado. When made, on fho nm Day .
78 Aboukirbay, Sept. 2a 67
80 Aboukirbay, Sept 21. 64
80 Aboukirbay, Sept, 22. 56
{Atsea,offthemouthsofthe^ M
Nile, } Sept 23. 63
{At sea, off the mouths of the") _
Nile, } Sept. 24. 61
78 At sea, N. lat. 33°. 30". Sept 25. 59
78 At sea, N. lat. 34°. 50*. Sept. 26. 6 1
78 At sea, N. lat 35°. 55'. Sept 27. 70
76 At sea, N. lat. 35o. 50/. Sept 28. 67
74 At sea, Sept29. 69
74 At sea, Sept SO. 64
72 At sea, near Rhodes, Oct 1 . 59
71 At sea, near Rhodes, Oct 2. 65
€ At sea, near the Island >
74 { Episcopia, }0ct- S' 65
75 At sea,near the Island Stanchio,Oct 4. 6l
76 Stanchio, Oct. 5. 61
77 Stanchio, Oct 6. 57
77 Stanchio, Oct. 7. 58
76 Stanchio, Oct. 8. 58
76 At sea, near Patmos, Oct 9. 61
76 At Patmos, in the port, Oct 10. 65
74 At Patmos, Ditto, Oct 11. 61
69 At Patmos, Ditto, Oct. 12. 58
t Ditto, smaller Harbour of 7
75 \ Ditto> l Oct. 13. 63
{Ditto, smaller Harbour ofS
Ditto, j0ct' 14' *
APPENDIX, M°. I. 635
tmmjlau on the OtifftUoa to
sate of Fahrenheit. When made. When mad*. oo the mm Day.
75 At sea, near Naxos, Oct 15. GO
72 Island of Naxos, Oct 16. 00
72 At sea, near Naxos, Oct 17. 58
76 Island of Naxoe, Oct 18. 59
76 At sea, near Paros, Oct 19* 54
76 Island of Paros, Oct 20. 50
C Parian marble quarries of ")
77 X MarpeJs, J0*'21' «
75 Harbour of Syra, Oct 22. 47
78 Harbour of Syra, Oct 23. 53
75 At sea, near Zia, Oct. 24. 50
74 Island of Zia, Oct 2d. 53
76 Island of Zia, Oct 26. 56
80 Cape Sanium, Oct 2?. 56
78 Near Athens, Oct. 28. 49
80 Athens, Oct 2ft 54
66 Athens, Oct 30. 59
64 Athens, Oct 31. 62
60 Athens, Nov. ]. 60
62 Athens, Nov. 2. 56
48 Summit of Mount Hymettus, Nor. 3. 42
70 Athens, Nov. 4. 48
68 At sea, near JEgina, Nov. 5. 38
68 Epi&da, Nov. 6. 42
67 Hieron of JEsculapius, Nov. 7« 40
67 Nauplia, Nov. 8. 47
67 Argos, Nov. 9. 48
62 Carvati, near Mycenae, Nov. 10. 48
61 Sicyon, Nov. 11. 53
63 Corinth, Nov. 12. 48
636 APPENDIX, N°. I.
Obturation on the Obeerotknt ia
Scale of Fahrenheit When made. When made, on the aame Day.
68 Isthmus of Corinth, Not. 13. 44
62 Stadium of the Isthmia, Not. 14. 43
64 Bath of Helen, at Cenchrea, Not. 15. 53
63 Caneta, Nov. 16. 55
67 Eleusis, Nov. 17. 54
61 Athens, Nov. 18. 50
60 Athens, Nov. 19. 42
62 Athens, Nov. 20. 41
61 Athens, Nov.21. 44
68 Eleusis, Nov. 22. 41
74 Eleusis, Nov. 23. 37
64 Athens, Nov. 24. 48
60 Athens, Nov. 25. 46
61 Athens, Nov. 26. 45
65 Athens, Nov. 27. 36
62 Athens, Nov. 28. 37
68 Athens, Nov. 29. 29
67 Athens, Nov. 30. 36
APPENDIX, N°. II.
637
No. II.
NAMES OF PLACES
VISITED IN THE A UTHOR'S RO UTE.
N.B. No attempt has been made upon the present occasion to state the Distances ;
because relating principally to Sea Voyage*, they are not precisely known.
1801.
July 17* Acre.
18. Acre.
19. Acre.
20. Acre.
21. Sailed from Acre.
22. At sea.
23. At sea.
24. At sea.
25. At sea.
26. At sea.
27. At sea,
28. At sea.
1801.
July 29. At sea.
30. At sea.
31. At sea.
Aug. 1. Aboukir;
2. Aboukir.
3. Aboukir.
4. Aboukir.
5. Aboukir.
6. Aboukir.
7« Aboukir.
8. Voyage to the Nile.
9. Rosetta.
638
APPENDIX, N°. II.
1801.
Aug,\Q. Upon the Nile.
1 1. Upon the Nile1.
12. Cairo.
13. Cairo.
14. Cairo.
15. Cairo.
16. Cairo.
17. Cairo,
18. Cairo.
19' Cairo.
20. Cairo.
21. Cairo.
22. Heliopolis.
23. Pyramids of Djiza.
24. Cairo.
25. Cairo,
26. Cairo.
27. Sheik Atman, be-
yond Cairo.
28. Pyramids of Sac-
cara.
29. Cairo.
30. Cairo.
31. Cairo,
Sept. 1. Cairo.
2. Bulac, upon the
Nile.
1801.
Sept. 3. Teran6, upon th
Nile.
4. Se'l Hajar— Run
of Sais.
5. Berimbal.
6. Rosetta.
7. Rosetta.
8. Aboukir.
9. Aboukir.
10. Alexandria.
U. Alexandria.
12. Alexandria.
13. Alexandria.
14. Alexandria.
15. Alexandria.
1 6. Alexandria.
17. Aboukir.
18. Aboukir.
19. At sea.
20. At sea.
21. At sea.
22. At sea.
23. At sea.
24. At sea.
35. At sea.
26. At sea.
27. At sea.
(1) A voyage of 200 mile* against the whole force of the Inundation, i
36 hours.
APPENDIX, N°. II.
639
1801.
Sept.28. At sea.
29. At sea.
30. At sea.
Oct. 1. Off Rhodes.
2. Coast of Asia Mi-
nor.
3. Island Episcopia.
4. Island Stanchio.
5. Stanchio.
6. Stanchio.
7. Stanchio.
8. Stanchio.
9. Island Leria — Pat-
mos.
10. Patmos.
1 1 • Patmos.
12. Off Sanios, Icaria,
&c.
13. Western Port of
Patmos.
14. Patmos.
15. Icaria — Naxos.
16. Naxos.
17* Naxos.
18. Naxos.
19- Paros.
20. Paros — Antiparos.
21. Paros.
22. Syra.
1801.
Oct. 23. Syra.
24. Jura.
25. Zia.
26. Zia.
27. Cape Sunium.
28. Sinus Saronicus.
29- Athens.
30. Athens.
31. Athens.
iVbr. 1. Athens.
2. Athens.
3. Athens.
4. Athens.
5. iEgina.
6. Epiada — Ligurio.
7. Hieron of iEscula-
pius — Nauplia.
8. Nauplia.
9. Tiryns — Argos.
10. Mycenae — Nemea.
1 1 . Sicyon.
12. Corinth.
13. Corinth.
14. Corinth.
15. Cenchreae — Cro-
myon.
16. Megara.
17. Eleusis.
18. Athens.
640
APPENDIX, »°. II.
1801.
Nov.\9. Athens.
20. Athens.
21. Athens.
22. Eleusis.
23. Eleusis.
24. Athens.
1801.
Nov.95. Athens.
26. Athens.
27. Athens.
28. Athens.
29. Athens.
30. Athens.
END OP VOLUME THE SIXTH.
3'